C.RICH'DWHITTEMORE 
Rare  Books 

ASHLAND.    MASS. 


§ooh  for 


THE  BOY  INVENTOR; 


A  MEMOIR   OF 


MATTHEW    EDWARDS, 


MATHEMATICAL-INSTRUMENT  MAKER. 


• 


"  To  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious  days." 

MILTON. 


BOSTON: 
WALKER,     WISE,     &     CO., 

245  WASHINGTON  STREET. 
1860. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 

WALKER,     WISE,     &     CO., 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


University  Press,  Cambridge : 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  Welch,  Bigelow,  &  Co. 


TO    THE 

MECHANIC  APPRENTICES'  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION, 

THIS    MEMOIR 
IS     RESPECTFULLY     DEDICATED. 


P188453 


PREFACE. 


THE  first  part  of  this  Memoir  was  written 
more  than  two  years  ago,  and  intended  as  a 
contribution  to  a  juvenile  magazine.  This 
will  account  for  its  juvenile  tone.  When 
written,  it  was  laid  aside ;  the  idea  of  its 
publication  being  relinquished,  from  a  fear 
that  the  effect  might  be  injurious  to  the 
youth  whose  adventures  it  relates.  That 
fear  being  removed  by  the  sad  event  of  his 
death,  the  Memoir,  with  additions,  complet- 
ing the  brief  story,  is  given  to  the  public, 
in  the  hope  that  it  may  awaken  kind  sen- 
timents and  quicken  good  impulses  in  the 
breasts  of  readers,  whether  youthful  or  more 
mature. 

T.  B. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 
BIRTH  AND  EARLY  LIFE 


CHAPTER   II. 
MATTHEW  IN  1858 24 

CHAPTER    III. 
ANECDOTES  AND  CONVERSATIONS        .       .  "     »       .       .41 

CHAPTER    IV. 
ANECDOTES  AND  CONVERSATIONS,  CONTINUED  .        .        .56 

CHAPTER    V. 
MATTHEW'S  REMOVAL  TO  CAMBRIDGE       .       .        .       .68 

APPENDIX. 

I.  INDENTURE  OF  APPRENTICESHIP  .  .  .  .83 
H.  EXTRACTS  FROM  CORRESPONDENCE  ...  87 
III.  A  PROPOSED  CHANGE  IN  THE  METHOD  OF  PRINTING  96 


viii  CONTENTS. 

IV.    NOTE  FROM  PROFESSOR  G.  P.  BOND,  OF  THE  CAM- 
BRIDGE OBSERVATORY 101 

V.    FROM   PROFESSOR  WILLIAM  B.  EOGERS,  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA 103 

VI.    FROM  PROFESSOR  H.  L.  EUSTIS,  OF  THE  CAM- 
BRIDGE SCIENTIFIC  SCHOOL         ....    104 

VII.    DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  LEVELLING  APPARATUS  OF 

ED  WARDS' s  IMPROVED  THEODOLITE   .       .       .106 


THE    BOY    INVENTOR. 


CHAPTER    I. 

BIRTH  AND  EARLY  LIFE. 

THE  young  man  to  whom  these  pages  relate  was 
known  to  not  a  few  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  for  his 
engaging  personal  qualities  and  his  noble  efforts  for 
self-improvement.  It  is  thought  a  brief  record  of 
his  career  may  be  useful  in  showing  how  much  may 
be  accomplished  by  an  unknown  youth  in  a  foreign 
land,  by  the  diligent  improvement  of  his  opportu- 
nities ;  and  how  even  a  short  life,  if  faithfully  used, 
can  leave  a  precious  memory.  Perhaps,  too,  the 
early  close  of  this  promising  career  may  impart  its 
lesson,  teaching  that  every  earthly  object  is  to  be 
pursued  with  moderation ;  and  that  the  issue  of  our 
best-meant  efforts  rests,  after  all,  with  the  great 
Disposer  of  events. 


!!#/  ;  "....*     ;  ;  .THE.  pr  INVENTOR. 


Matthew  Edwards  was  born  of  honest  but  poor 
parents,  in  the  town  of  Derby,  England,  on  the  23d 
day  of  July,  1838.  His  father  was  a  stocking  weav- 
er; and  when  stockings  and  small-clothes  went  out 
of  fashion,  he  followed  the  business  of  collecting  bills 
for  his  neighbors,  by  which  he  supported  his  family 
frugally,  but  comfortably.  Matthew  was  the  young- 
est child,  and  not  much  could  be  done  for  his  school- 
ing ;  for  in  England  schooling  is  not  free  to  all,  but 
has  to  be  paid  for.  Matthew  made  the  best  of  his 
time,  and  learned  to  read,  write,  and  cipher,  and  got 
a  tolerable  knowledge  of  geography. 

At  ten  and  a  half  years  old  he  left  school  to  go 
apprentice  to  a  printer.  One  night  there  was  a 
terrible  storm,  and  next  morning  when  they  came 
to  the  office  they  found  that  the  chimney  had  been 
blown  over,  and  had  fallen  on  the  roof  and  crushed 
it  into  the  printing-office,  filling  all  with  bricks  and 
rafters.  All  hands  immediately  set  to  work  to  clear 
away  the  rubbish,  some  of  the  boys  loading  up 
others,  who  carried  down  the  bricks  and  piled  them 


THE   BOY  INVENTOR.  11 

in  the  yard.  Matthew  did  his  part  manfully,  but  it 
was  too  hard  work  for  him ;  and  when  he  went  home 
he  was  in  pain  all  over,  was  restless  all  night,  and 
next  day  was  found  to  have  a  violent  attack  of  acute 
rheumatism.  This  is  a  terrible  complaint,  which 
swells  the  joints  and  limbs,  and  renders  one  inca- 
pable of  walking  or  using  his  hands,  while  the  pain 
is  very  severe,  and  even  lying  in  bed  affords  no 
relief.  Matthew  was  so  ill  that  he  had  to  give  up 
the  printing-office,  and  it  was  nine  months  before  he 
was  able  to  undertake  any  kind  of  business. 

While  he  was  slowly  recovering,  he  saw,  one  day, 
in  a  shop-window,  a  book  standing  open  against  the 
glass,  with  a  picture  unfolded,  containing  drawings 
of  air-pumps,  electrical-machines,  &c.,  and  he  gazed 
at  this  picture,  day  by  day,  and  read  all  that  was 
printed  on  the  picture  and  on  the  printed  page.  At 
last  he  went  into  the  shop  and  inquired  the  price  of 
the  book,  and  was  told  a  shitting.  He  had  not 
money  to  buy  it  if  it  had  been  but  half  as  much; 
but  when  he  went  home  he  told  his  mother  how 


12  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

much  he  wished  he  could  have  that  book.  She 
could  not  venture  to  spend  so  much  money  merely 
to  gratify  a  childish  fancy,  but  said  she  would  ask 
his  father.  The  good  man  promised  to  go  and  look 
at  the  book.  He  did  so,  and  told  the  bookseller  the 
fancy  his  boy  had  for  it,  and  asked  him  if  he  thought 
it  was  a  good  book ;  when  a  gentleman  in  the  shop, 
overhearing  the  conversation,  stepped  forward  and 
said  it  was  a  very  good  little  book,  and  moreover, 
he  added,  "  If  my  boy  had  any  fancy  for  such  a  book, 
I  should  buy  it  for  him  with  pleasure."  So  Mat- 
thew's father  bought  the  book. 

Matthew  was  now  at  the  summit  of  happiness. 
He  read  all  about*  the  air-pump,  the  air-gun,  the 
electrical-machine,  the  fire-engine,  and  many  other 
things,  spelling  out  the  hard  words  as  well  as  he 
could,  and  almost  got  his  book  by  heart. 

There  was  a  shop  which  he  passed  sometimes 
where  they  made  philosophical  instruments,  and  in 
the  windows  were  several  machines  placed  to  catch 
the  eye  of  the  passer-by.  Matthew  used  to  stand 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  13 

and  gaze  at  this  window,  till  he  thought  if  he  could 
only  get  a  glass  cylinder  he  could  make  an  electrical 
machine.  He  saved  up  his  money  till  he  had  got 
enough  (almost  a  dollar)  to  buy  a  cylinder,  and 
then  he  went  to  work  to  prepare  a  cushion  to  rub  it. 
The  cushion  is  made  of  silk,  and  covered  with  an 
amalgam,  or  paste,  made  of  quicksilver  and  tinfoil, 
rubbed  together  in  a  mortar.  He  made  also  a  Ley- 
den  jar  to  receive  the  electricity.  It  is  coated  within 
and  without  with  tinfoil.  When  he  got  his  rubber 
ready,  he  rubbed  his  cylinder  and  charged  his  jar, 
and  took  off  a  shock,  and  gave  one  to  .his  father  and 
mother  and  the  cat.  Puss  was  persuaded  to  put  her 
nose  to  the  jar,  and  got  what  made  her  jump  and 
run  away. 

In  making  his  electrical  machine,  Matthew  had 
frequent  need  to  ask  advice.  There  was  no  one  at 
home  to  advise  him,  and  he  went  to  the  man  who 
kept  the  philosophical-instrument  shop,  and  asked 
questions  of  him.  The  man  soon  got  to  know  Mat- 
thew quite  well,  and  one  day  asked  him  if  he  would 
2 


14  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

not  like  to  come  and  be  apprentice  to  him.  Mat- 
thew liked  the  thought  very  much,  and  his  father 
gladly  accepted  the  offer.  The  custom  in  Eng- 
land is,  for  an  apprentice  entering  a  business  of 
that  kind,  to  pay  an  entrance  fee;  and  at  that 
shop  the  fee  was  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  But 
the  gentleman  consented  to  take  Matthew  without 
any  fee. 

Here  he  passed  two  years,  till  his  elder  brother 
got  married,  and  made  up  his  mind  to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  America.  Matthew  went  with  them,  with 
the  consent  of  his  parents  and  his  employer,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1853  landed  in  Boston.  Here  he 
was,  a  boy  of  fourteen  and  a  half  years  old,  with 
none  to  advise  him  except  his  brother  and  wife, 
strangers  like  himself,  and  having  enough  to  do  to 
make  their  own  arrangements.  He  lost  no  time 
in  inquiring  out  a  maker  of  philosophical  instru- 
ments, and  presented  himself  at  the  shop,  offering 
to  come  as  an  apprentice.  He  was  accepted;  and 
before  the  end  of  the  first  week  after  his  arrival 


THE    BOY   INVENTOR.  15 

was  at  work  for  his  new  master.  But  he  soon 
perceived  that  the  kind  of  work  done  at  that  shop 
was  not  the  highest  branch  of  the  art.  The 
instruments  made  there  were  such  as  are  used 
for  school  apparatus,  which  are  as  simple  and 
cheap  as  possible ;  and  Matthew  thought  if  he  only 
learned  to  make  such  as  those,  he  should  hardly 
be  master  of  his  trade.  So  he  inquired  if  there 
was  not  in  the  town  some  manufacturer  who  made 
better  instruments,  and  he  found  that  there  was. 
He  applied  to  him,  was  accepted,  and  after  two 
weeks'  employment  in  his  first  place,  removed  to  his 
second,  where  he  remained  to  the  end  of  his  appren- 
ticeship, five  years. 

His  pay  was  enough  to  support  him  and  leave  a 
little  over.  He  did  not  waste  that  little  in  idle 
gratifications,  so  that  he  laid  up  money  slowly ;  and 
I  will  tell  you  by  and  by  how  he  spent  it. 

During  the  greater  part  of  the  time  that  he  was  in 
this  employment,  Matthew  did  not  fail  to  occupy  his 
mind  with  some  kind  of  study ;  but  having  no  friend 


16  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

to  guide  him,  accident  in  some  measure  decided  the 
course  of  his  studies.  He  was  smitten  with  a  warm 
admiration  for  public  speaking,  and  it  was  the  height 
of  his  ambition  to  become  an  accomplished  v  orator. 
He  inquired  what  books  there  were  on  the  subject, 
and  one  was  shown  him,  written  by  Dr.  Rush  of 
Philadelphia,  upon  the  Voice.  This  is  a  work  not 
for  a  beginner,  but  for  a  mature  and  educated 
reader.  But  Matthew  went  to  work  upon  it  with 
all  his  heart,  and  read  it  through  and  through 
again,  with  admiration.  Not  that  he  could  under- 
stand it  all,  —  far  from  it;  but  what  he  could  un- 
derstand seemed  to  him  full  of  wisdom.  It  con- 
tained allusions  to  other  books,  some  of  which  he 
got  and  read  with  it ;  for  instance,  Shakespeare's 
plays  and  Blair's  Rhetoric.  Ten  hours  and  a  half 
a  day  he  gave  to  his  trade,  and  another  hour  and  a 
half  to  -his  meals  ;  but  the  evening  and  early  morn- 
ing allowed  him  still  some  hours  each  day  for  his 
books.  He  had  succeeded  in  getting  a  room  by  him- 
self, though  a  small  one  and  very  high  up.  After 


THE   BOY  INVENTOR.  17 

his  day's  work  he  ran  home,  washed  his  hands,  ate 
his  supper,  and  then  skipped  up  to  his  attic,  where 
he  devoted  himself  to  his  dear  books  to  a  late  hour. 
But  with  all  his  study  he  could  not  quite  master  Dr. 
Rush's  work,  and  he  felt  a  longing  desire  to  ask 
some  one  to  explain  to  him  what  he  found  too  hard 
for  his  powers.  But  whom  should  he  ask?  He 
could  think  of  no  one  but  the  author  himself.  He 
had  learned  that  Dr.  Rush  was  still  living,  and  re- 
sided in  Philadelphia.  If  he  could  but  go  there,  he 
might  see  him,  and  learn  from  himself  the  best 
explanation  of  his  precepts.  This  thought  occupied 
his  mind  for  months.  He  had  laid  up  nearly  fifty 
dollars,  and  this  would  be  more  than  enough  to 
carry  him  to  Philadelphia  and  bring  him  back. 
He  mentioned  his  wish  to  his  employer,  who 
treated  it  as  an  idle  fancy.  But  the  thought 
dwelt  on  Matthew's  mind,  and  at  last  he  per- 
suaded his  master  to  allow  him  a  fortnight's 
vacation  for  the  purpose. 

Behold    him  then,  with  nearly  his    whole   for- 


18  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

tune  in  his  pocket,  starting  for  Philadelphia,  —  a 
young  pilgrim  to  the  shrine  of  his  cherished  sage. 
He  stopped  no  longer  in  New  York  than  was  ne- 
cessary to  change  boats,  and  from  the  wharf  at 
Philadelphia  inquired  his  way  directly  to  the  phi- 
losopher's door.  He  found  it,  and  rung  the  bell. 
"Is  Dr.  Rush  at  home?"  "No."  This  was  a 
disappointment,  and  he  turned  slowly  away.  Some- 
thing in  the  servant's  manner  led  him  to  think  that 
perhaps  the  Doctor  might  be  at  home,  but  not 
exactly  at  leisure  to  see  a  boy.  Matthew  next 
inquired  his  way  to  the  store  of  the  bookseller 
who  had  published  Dr.  Rush's  work ;  and  there, 
being  admitted  into  the  counting-room,  he  told  the 
gentleman  his  purpose  in  coming  to  Philadelphia, 
and  his  disappointment  in  his  attempt  to  see  the 
Doctor.  Mr.  L.,  the  publisher,  promised  to  speak 
for  him,  and  told  him  to  make  another  attempt  in 
the  evening.  Matthew  did  so,  was  admitted,  and 
was  led  into  the  Doctor's  study,  and  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  one  for  whom  he  had  long  felt 


THE    BOY   INVENTOR.  19 

the  greatest  veneration.  He  told  his  object.  He 
had  come  from  Boston  to  ask  the  Doctor  to  ex- 
plain certain  things  in  his  book.  "What  are 
they  ? "  said  the  Doctor.  Matthew  opened  the 
book,  and  found  the  first  place.  The  Doctor  ex- 
plained. The  boy  showed  intelligence ;  he  under- 
stood the  explanation ;  he  accepted  it  with  delight. 
He  turned  to  a  second  place.  Here,  too,  the  Doc- 
tor explained,  illustrated,  exemplified.  Thus  the 
evening  passed  away.  The  pupil's  enthusiasm,  so 
flattering  to  the  instructor,  '  and  the  instructor's 
kindness,  so  gratifying  to  the  pupil,  kept  them 
from  feeling  weary,  or  noting  the  lapse  of  time. 
When  they  parted,  it  was  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning. 

The  good  Doctor  made  Matthew  come  to  him 
every  evening  while  he  stayed  in  Philadelphia  ; 
and  as  he  was  not  a  teacher  of  elocution  himself, 
he  gave  him  an  introduction  to  a  gentleman  who 
was.  Professor  A.  was  as  much  interested  in  Mat- 
thew as  Dr.  R.  had  been,  and  both  joined  in 


20  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

advising  him,  if  he  so  earnestly  desired  to  acquire 
the  art  of  elocution,  to  cultivate  his  mind,  and 
study  language  and  literature.  But  how  should 
he,  employed  as  he  was  nearly  the  whole  time  in 
his  trade,  and  without  money  to  pay  teachers,  get 
the  requisite  instruction  ?  Professor  A.  gave  him, 
when  he  left  Philadelphia  to  return  home,  a  letter 
to  Mr.  B.,  a  gentleman  of  Boston  who  had  leisure 
and  wras  fond  of  books,  and  who  he  thought  would 
be  pleased  with  Matthew's  zeal  for  learning,  and 
would  help  him  forward.  With  many  thanks  to 
his  kind  friends,  Matthew  took  his  leave,  and  re- 
turned home. 

He  lost  no  time  in  presenting  his  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  Mr.  B.,  who  received  him  kindly,  and 
told  him  to  call  in  the  evening.  Matthew  came, 
and  told  all  his  adventures  and  plans  to  his  new 
friend.  Dr.  E.  and  Professor  A.  had  both  ad- 
vised him,  as  the  most  effectual  way  of  disciplining 
his  mind  and  getting  a  knowledge  of  language,  to 
study  Latin.  Mr.  B.  told  him,  if  he  would  get  a 


THE 'BOY   INVENTOR.  21 

Latin  grammar,  he  would  tell  him  what  to  study ; 
and  he  might  come,  one  evening  in  the  week,  and 
recite  his  lessons.  Matthew  accepted  the  offer  with 
delight.  He  got  his  grammar,  and  went  to  work 
upon  his  first  lesson.  After  his  day's  work  was 
done,  he  hardly  allowed  himself  time  for  his  sup- 
per, and  then  went  straight  to  his  attic  and  to  his 
grammar.  In  the  morning  he  rose  as  soon  as  it 
was  light,  and  went  and  walked  round  the  Com- 
mon, grammar  in  hand,  repeating  to  himself.  When 
the  week  came  round,  he  presented  himself  at  Mr; 
B.'s  study,  and  recited  a  good  long  lesson,  so  well 
got  as  to  show  that  he  was  in  earnest.  Mr.  B. 
felt  his  interest  in  him  increase  ;  and  when,  week 
after  week,  Matthew  presented  himself  regularly 
as  the  evening  came,  always  furnished  with  a  les- 
son well  committed,  generally  of  no  trifling  length, 
Mr.  B.  began  to  take  as  much  pleasure  in  the 
evening  meetings  as  the  boy  himself.  Matthew 
soon  got  through  his  grammar,  and  felt  ambitious 
to  begin  to  translate.  Viri  Romae  is  not  the  first 


22  THE    BOY   INVENTOR. 

book  usually  put  next  to  the  grammar;  but  Mat- 
thew looked  at  its  first  sentences,  and  thought  he 
could  manage  it,  and  Mr.  B.  allowed  him  to  try. 
He  found  it  pretty  hard  at  first,  having  no  school- 
mates to  consult  with  and  ask  questions  of,  as  most 
schoolboys  have ;  but  at  the  end  of  the  week  he 
had  succeeded  in  translating  the  first  half  page, 
and  he  wrote  off  his  translation  in  his  best  hand 
and  brought  it  to  his  kind  instructor.  Mr.  B.  ex- 
amined it,  and  said  it  was  very  well  for  a  first 
attempt,  but  not  free  from  faults  ;  and  Matthew 
took  as  much  interest  in  having  the  faults  pointed 
out,  and  seeing  how  he  had  been  led  into  them,  as 
he  had  taken  in  the  translating  itself.  The  next 
lesson  showed  he  had  not  forgotten  the  corrections 
and  instructions  which  he  received  upon  his  former 
one,  and  every  succeeding  lesson  showed  more  or 
less  improvement. 

After  the  Latin  lesson,  it  was  Mr.  B.'s  plan  to 
devote  the  rest  of  the  evening  to  hearing  Matthew 
read.  This  had  a  double  adyantage  ;  it  improved 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  23 

the  reading  faculty,  and  it  conveyed  information. 
As  India  was  then  the  reigning  topic,  they  chose 
Macaulay's  account  of  Lord  Clive  and  of  Warren 
Hastings,  under  whom  the  British  empire  in  India 
was  established ;  and  Matthew  was  so  much  inter- 
ested, that  he  could  hardly  bear  to  lay  down  the 
book  when  ten  o'clock  came. 


CHAPTER    II. 

MATTHEW  IN  1858. 

MATTHEW  had  now  been  four  and  a  half  years 
absent  from  his  parents,  and  he  wanted  very  much 
to  go  home  to  England  and  see  them.  His  em- 
ployer consented;  but  the  expense  was  a  serious 
obstacle.  He  thought  he  might  possibly  get  a  free 
passage  in  one  of  the  steamers,  in  return  for  tak- 
ing some  care  of  the  machinery.  But  he  found 
that  there  was  a  regular  establishment  on  board 
of  each  steamer  for  that  duty,  and  no  vacancy 
was  to  be  found.  However,  by  the  help  of  kind 
friends,  Matthew  got  permission  to  go  free  of 
charge,  in  return  for  making  himself  useful  in  any 
way  in  which  he  might  be  called  upon.  It  re- 
sulted in  his  tending  table  at  the  officers'  mess. 


THE    BOY   INVENTOR.  25 

This  was  not  an  occupation  very  much  to  Mat- 
thew's taste;  but  he  did  his  duty  in  it,  and  gave 
satisfaction.  Among  the  passengers  in  the  cabin 
was  Professor  W.  B.  Rogers.  Mr.  B.  had  given 
Matthew  a  letter  of  introduction  to  this  gentleman, 
and  the  Professor  was  very  kind  to  him,  and  took 
occasion  several  times  to  converse  with  him.  This 
acquaintance  was  afterwards  very  valuable  to  Mat- 
thew. He  spent  a  month  in  England,  where  he 
had  the  happiness  of  seeing  his  parents  and  other 
relatives  in  good  health,  and  of  renewing  his  inter- 
course with  the  friends  of  his  childhood.  In  the 
early  autumn  he  returned  to  Boston. 

On  his  return  he  recommenced  his  labors  at 
Mr.  Temple's  shop,  and  his  weekly  visits  to  Mr. 
B.'s  chamber.  His  Latin  studies  went  on  finely ; 
he  showed  a  ready  apprehension  of  the  peculiar- 
ities of  the  language ;  few  sentences  were  too  hard 
for  him,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  puzzle  him  in 
parsing.  The  English  readings  were  also  contin- 
ued. After  Macaulay's  Historical  Essays  on  India, 
3 


26  THE    BOY   INVENTOR. 

his  friend  took  up  with  him  the  History  of  the 
Spanish  Conquest  in  South  America,  and  after  that, 
Young's  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim  Founders  of  New 
England. 

Matthew  was  rigorously  self-exacting.  He  rose 
very  early,  and,  after  a  walk,  devoted  himself  to 
study.  When  cold  weather  came  on,  he  still  con- 
tinued his  early  walks,  often  before  light,  and  stud- 
ie'd  in  his  chamber,  both  morning  and  evening, 
without  a  fire.  This  was  very  imprudent,  but  he 
did  it,  as  he  said,  to  harden  himself.  He  perse- 
vered in  this  practice  all  winter;  but  it  was  too 
much  for  his  strength.  In  the  early  spring  he  had 
an  attack  of  rheumatism.  All  at  once  his  ankles 
and  wrists  swelled,  so  that  he  could  neither  walk 
nor  labor,  and  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  work  at 
the  shop.  After  two  weeks,  getting  no  better,  Mr. 
B.  had  him  taken  to  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital,  where  he  knew  he  would  have  the  best 
of  attendance.  It  was  several  weeks  before  Mat- 
thew got  well  enough  to  go  out;  and  when  he  did 


THE    BOY   INVENTOR.  27 

he  was  still  too  feeble  to  labor.  A  kind  friend 
proposed  to  him  to  go  with  him  to  the  country, 
where  he  could  have  his  board  in  return  for  such 
services  as  he  could  render  on  the  farm.  He  ac- 
cepted the  offer,  and  went  to  Barrington,  a  farm- 
ing town  near  Dover,  N.  H. 

Here  he  was  in  a  line  of  life  new  to  him.  He 
had  never  in  his  life  mounted  a  horse.  Here  it 
was  one  of  his  duties  to  ride  the  horse  that  drew 
the  harrow.  This  suited  him  exactly ;  and  now 
and  then  he  had  the  chance  of  riding  some  miles 
to  do  an  errand.  He  made  himself  useful  in  va- 
rious ways;  he  churned  the  butter,  drew  the  water, 
and  helped  make  hay.  His  part  was  to  mount  the 
load,  and  receive  the  hay  when  it  was  passed  up 
on  the  pitchfork,  and  stow  it  carefully.  It  is  quite 
a  nice  matter  to  stow  a  load  of  hay.  For  if  it  is 
not  evenly  laid  on,  but  leans  one  side  or  the  oth- 
er, it  will  be  likely  to  slide  off,  when  the  load  is 
all  packed,  and  give  the  labor  to  do  over  again. 
Matthew  made  hiinself  very  popular  with  the  coun- 


28  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

try  boys  and  girls,  for  he  was  a  good  hand  at  a 
frolic,  and  made  more  fun  than  any  one  else.  But 
he  did  not  use  all  his  time  in  working  or  frolick- 
ing. Mr.  B.  had  lent  him  some  books,  which  Mat- 
thew read  when  he  could  have  an  hour  to  himself. 
He  read  during  this  summer,  Goldsmith's  History 
of  Rome  twice  through,  Paley's  Natural  Theology, 
which  is  a  charming  book  for  an  inquiring  mind, 
though  the  title  would  lead  one  to  think  it  must 
be  too  serious  to  be  agreeable;  he  also  read  the 
Conversations  on  Chemistry}  which  gave  him  the 
groundwork  of  a  science  the  knowledge  of  which 
was  afterwards  of  great  use  to  him. 

In  October  he  came  back  to  Boston  quite  well. 
He  returned  to  his  work  and  his  studies.  This 
autumn  he  read  parts  of  Gibbon's  History  of 
Rome,  including  the  account  of  Mahomet,  the 
founder  of  the  Mahometan  religion,  and  the  nar- 
rative of  the  conquest  of  Constantinople  by  the 
Turks.  He  also  read  several  of  Plutarch's  Lives 
of  illustrious  Greeks  and  Romans.  But  nothing 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  29 

interested  him  so  much  as  Grote's  Life  of  Socra- 
tes. This  is  a  book  which  would,  by  those  who 
read  mainly  for  amusement,  be  called  very  dry 
reading,  but  it  suited  Matthew's  taste.  What  that 
taste  was  may  be  inferred  from  another  incident. 
When  he  was  getting  over  his  attack  of  illness, 
Mr.  B.  gave  him  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield  to  read. 
He  enjoyed  it  much.  Next  followed  the  story  of 
Rasselas,  and  this  pleased  him  more  than  the 
other.  While  he  was  in  the  country,  he  read 
Goldsmith's  Traveller  and  Deserted  Village,  com- 
mitting great  part  of  them  to  memory.  He  also 
got  by  heart  Gray's  Elegy  and  Ode  on  Eton  Col- 
lege. He  preferred  Goldsmith's  to  all  other  poetry 
he  had  read.  He  made  that  the  standard.  Other 
poetry  was  good  in  proportion  as  it  approached 
that.  His  friend  read  him  Scott's  battle  in  Mar- 
mion.  He  did  not  relish  it;  he  had  no  taste  for 
tales  of  war  and  bloodshed.  Milton's  Comus  and 
L' Allegro  and  II  Penseroso  were  read  to  him,  but 
his  taste  was  yet  too  immature  to  appreciate  them 
3* 


30  THE    BOY   INVENTOR. 

justly.  Last  of  all,  they  read  selected  portions  of 
the  famous  romance  of  Don  Quixote ;  and  Mat- 
thew, who  laughed  as  heartily  as  he  labored,  en- 
joyed highly  the  fun  of  Sancho  and  Dapple,  while 
he  appreciated  the  generous  and  noble  qualities  of 
the  Don. 

Thus  passed  the  year  1858,  and  with  that  year 
Matthew's  apprenticeship  ended.  He  was  twenty 
and  a  half  years  old ;  and  now  at  last  he  felt  he 
had  reached  the  time  when  he  should  receive  full 
wages,  and  be  able  to  lay  up  money  fast,  to  pay  his 
way  through  college.  For  his  views  had  expanded 
as  his  education  proceeded.  He  no  longer  limited 
his  ambition  to  being  a  public  speaker,  or  even  a 
great  actor,  —  an  idea  which  once  had  charms  for 
him.  He  loved  his  calling,  and  felt  no  desire  to 
forsake  it.  But  he  aspired  to  be  also  a  well- 
educated  man.  No  limit  short  of "  the  possible 
seemed  to  satisfy  him.  He  would  go  to  Harvard 
College,  and  then  to  Germany,  where  he  had 
been  told  they  carried  their  researches  in  every 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  31 

path  of  learning  further  than  was  done  anywhere 
else. 

But  Matthew  found  a  difficulty  in  realizing  his 
plans  at  the  outset.  His  employer  did  not  want 
a  new  journeyman.  So  Matthew  went  to  another 
establishment,  where  he  readily  got  employment  on 
his  own  terms.  But  here  the  work  was  coarse,  it 
was  turned  off  in  great  haste,  sufficiently  well  fin- 
ished for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  intended, 
but  not  in  the  way  in  which  Matthew  had  been 
taught  to  finish  work.  lie  feared  he  should  soon 
lose  in  doing  such  work  the  delicacy  of  touch  which 
he  had  been  years  in  acquiring,  and  after  staying 
two  days  he  gave  up  his  engagement. 

He  talked  over  his  plans  with  his  good  friend. 
If  he  could  but  get  a  small  shop  and  a  few  tools, 
he  felt  sure  he  might  obtain  work  enough  at  repair- 
ing of  instruments  to  pay  as  much  or  more  than 
journeyman's  wages.  "  How  much  will  it  cost  ?  " 
was  the  inquiry.  "Three  hundred  dollars  would, 
perhaps,  be  enough."  This  was  no  great  sum,  and 


32  THE   BOY  INVENTOR. 

his  friend  readily  undertook  to  supply  it.  So  Mat- 
thew set  himself  the  next  day  to  find  a  work-room, 
and  after  examining  several,  selected  one  at  No. 
21 6£  Washington  Street,  where  he  found  two  small 
rooms,  in  the  fourth  story,  looking  out  upon  the 
street,  the  larger  of  which  would  do  nicely  for  a 
shop,  and  the  other  for  a  bedroom  and  study.  He 
got  a  friendly  carpenter  (everybody  was  friendly  to 
Matthew)  to  put  up  his  bench,  attach  his  vise,  and 
nail  up  slats,  furnished  with  pins  on  which  to  hang 
his  tools,  fix  him  a  box  for  his  coal,  and  so  forth. 
He  procured  a  turning-lathe,  the  most  complete  that 
could  be  made,  a  small  forge  and  an  anvil,  —  not  such 
an  anvil  as  you  see  in  blacksmiths'  shops,  but  a  little 
affair  suited  to  the  light  work  of  his  trade.  He  got 
an  iron  bedstead,  of  the  kind  which,  when  not  in  use, 
turns  up  against  the  wall,  and,  when  covered  with  a 
curtain,  hardly  makes  any  show  or  takes  up  any 
room.  He  had  a  set  of  book-shelves,  measuring 
about  two  feet  square,  in  which  stood  all  the  books 
he  had  accumulated  in  his  short  life,  from  the  little 


THE    BOY   INVENTOR.  33 

Youth's  Book  of  Amusement,  which  his  mother 
bought  for  him  in  the  beginning  of  his  career,  to  Dr. 
Rush's  work  and  Hudson's  Shakespeare,  his  later 
acquisitions.  Against  the  wall  hung  large  daguerro- 
types  of  his  father  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters. 
His  brother  painted  a  sign  for  him,  which  he  put 
up  on  the  side  of  the  entry  door,  —  "  Matthew  Ed- 
wards, Mathematical-Instrument  Maker,"  —  and  his 
estabh'shment  was  now  complete. 

For  two  weeks  not  a  single  job  offered.  But  Mat- 
thew was  not  idle.  .He  had  numerous  tools  to  make ; 
for  in  his  business  there  are  many  required  which 
are  not  for  sale  in  the  shops,  and  some  of  them  are 
complicated.  Before  he  had  got  through  with  them 
he  received  his  first  order,  and  then  several  others 
followed.  One  of  the  first  was  to  make  a  model  of 
a  newly-invented  instrument,  to  be  sent  to  the  Patent- 
Office  at  Washington.  The  drawings  were  supplied 
him,  and  he  was  to  carry  them  into  execution.  How 
he  succeeded,  the  following  letter  from  his  employer, 
when  his  work  was  sent  home,  will  show. 

C 


34  THE    EOT   INVENTOR. 

Portland,  July  3, 1859. 

"  MR.  M.  EDWARDS  :  — 

"  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  I 
have  received  the  machine  safe;  and  many  thanks 
to  you  for  the  manner  in  which  you  have  finished  it. 
But  I  am  not  able  to  tell  you  how  the  machine  will 
work  yet,  as  there  is  some  little  fixing  to  be  done 
before  I  can  try  it.  But  I  am  almost  sure  before- 
hand that  it  will  suit  the  purpose ;  but  should  it  not, 
there  will  be  no  blame  on  your  part,  as  your  work- 
manship IS  FIRST-RATE. 

"  You  seem,  in  your  letter,  uneasy  about  your  bill, 
lest  I  think  it  too  high.  I  assure  you  I  do  not ;  and 
should  it  ever  be  in  my  power,  I  will  show  you  my 
satisfaction  with  it  in  more  material  form  than  mere 
words. 

"  I  am,  very  sincerely,  your  well-wisher, 

"  THOS.  JOHNSTON." 

A  few  weeks  after  Matthew  opened  his  shop,  a 
young  man  called  upon  him  who  was  near  finishing 
his  studies  at  the  Scientific  School  at  Cambridge. 


THE    BOY    INVENTOR.  35 

He  wished  to  procure  an  instrument  used  in  survey- 
ing, called  a  theodolite,  the  cost  of  which  is  about 
three  hundred  dollars.  He  asked  Matthew  if  he 
could  make  him.  one.  Matthew  thought  he  could, 
and  referred  his  young  customer  to  Mr.  Temple 
for  information  as  to  his  ability.  "  I  shall  not  make 
any  inquiry,"  said  the  student.  "  I  can  judge  by 
seeing."  So  Matthew  undertook  the  theodolite. 
You  may  see  a  picture  of  one  in  the  new  dictionary 
of  Dr.  Worcester.  When  used,  it  is  mounted  on  a 
three-legged  stand,  called  a  tripod,  which  raises  it  to 
the  height  of  the  observer's  eye,  to  enable  him  to 
look  through  the  telescope  which  forms  part  of  the 
instrument. 

Matthew  had  often  heard  surveyors  complain  of 
this  instrument,  as  usually  constructed,  that  the  level- 
ling part  worked  badly.  The  levelling  is  effected  by 
screws,  marked  in  the  cut  K,  L,  P.  These  screws, 
when  the  instrument  stands  perfectly  level,  are  per- 
pendicular, but  when  the  instrument  is  not  perfectly 
level,  these  screws  have  to  be  turned  one  way  or  the 


36  THE   BOY  INVENTOR. 

other,  to  raise  or  depress  the  part  to  which  they  are 
attached.  In  this  process  they  cease  to  be  perpen- 
dicular, and  operate  in  a  slanting  direction.  This 
makes  them  work  hardly ;  and  as  the  usual  resort  of 
every  one  when  a  screw  works  hardly  is  to  put  on 
more  force,  the  effect  is  often  to  bend  the  screws,  or 
the  plate  to  which  they  are  fixed,  thus  spoiling  the 
instrument. 

Matthew  thought  he,  could  remedy  this  defect. 
He  studied  on  it  most  intently.  Here  he  found  great 
benefit  in  consulting  with  his  friend  Professor  Rog- 
ers, who  had  by  this  time  returned,  and  renewed  his 
acquaintance  with  Matthew.  To  make  the  screws 
always  push  in  a  perpendicular  direction,  Matthew 
saw  that  he  must  change  the  shape  of  the  plate 
against  which  they  press ;  it  must  not  be  a  flat,  but  a 
curved  surface.  Now,  what  was  this  curve  to  be? 
He  first  tried  a  circle,  but  soon  found  it  would  not 
answer ;  for  the  screws  which  form  the  radii  were  at 
every  turn  lengthening  or  shortening,  and  the  radius 
of  a  circle  is  of  equal  length  in  every  part.  Mat- 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  37 

thew  concluded  it  must  be  an  ellipse,  and  this  was 
near  enough  right  for  all  practical  purposes.  After 
designing  his  model,  his  next  task  was  to  make  each 
separate  part  in  wood,  to  form  a  mould  in  which 
the  brass  is  to  be  cast  to  the  required  shape. 
After  the  castings  are  ready,  the  work  of  fitting 
and  adapting  each  part  to  the  others  begins, 
and  this  is  done  with  files  of  different  degrees 
of  fineness,  the  use  of  which  is  the  great  test  of 
the  workman's  skill,  and  Matthew's  fellow-work- 
men all  say  that  in  the  use  of  the  file  none  sur- 
passed him. 

It  was  a  long  task  to  do  all  this.  The  designing 
took  a  good  while,  and  then  each  part  had  to  be 
drawn  on  tin  plates,  for  paper  would  not  support 
the  pressure  of  the  compasses,  where  the  points 
rest  in  taking  measurements.  Then  the  making  of 
the  patterns,  all  with  extreme  exactness,  yet  a  little 
larger  than  the  corresponding  parts,  to  admit  of 
filing  down.  All  this  preparation,  it  is  evident, 
would  serve,  when  once  done,  for  ever  so  many 
4 


38  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

instruments  after  the  first;  but  the  first  could 
not  be  made  without  it.  It  is  therefore  no  won- 
der that  Matthew's  instrument  advanced  but  slowly. 
He  was  so  indent  upon  it  that  he  refused  all  other 
jobs  that  offered,  that  he  might  devote  himself  to 
this. 

While  these  labors  were  going  on,  Matthew  pros- 
ecuted his  studies.  He  translated  from  his  Viri 
Romae  into  English,  and  then,  after  two  or  three 
weeks'  interval,  put  it  back  into  Latin.  He  also 
took  up  Arnold's  Latin  Composition,  a  pretty  diffi- 
cult book,  but  he  liked  it  all  the  better  for  that. 
He  occasionally  interrupted  his  Latin  studies  for  a 
week  or  two,  by  the  study  of  algebra,  in  which  his 
good  friend,  Professor  Rogers,  assisted  him.  He 
never  failed  to  spend  his  weekly  evening  with  Mr. 
B.,  and  after  the  Latin  lesson  they  read  together. 
Matthew  read  first ;  but  as  his  eyes  were  not  strong, 
Mr.  B.  took  the  book  after  a  while.  In  this  way 
he  made  acquaintance  with  Milton,  Pope,  Goldsmith, 
Gray,  Scott,  and  Byron;  a  slight  acquaintance  in- 


THE   BOY  INVENTOR.  39 

deed,  but  such  that  their  names  should  not  be  to 
him  mere  names. 

As  the  theodolite  approached  completion,  his  in- 
terest in  it  grew  so  engrossing  that  he  gave  up  for 
a  time  his  Latin  and  his  algebra,  but  continued 
his  evening  readings.  He  also  attended  the  Lowell 
Lectures,  one  course  of  which,  by  his  friend,  Profes- 
sor Rogers,  upon  Air  and  Water,  delighted  him 
very  much.  Another  good  friend,  Professor  Bacon, 
of  the  Medical  College,  gave  Matthew  a  ticket  to 
his  course  of  lectures  on  Chemistry.  Two  fore- 
noons of  each  week,  during  the  winter  of  1859, 
Matthew  turned  the  key  on  his  shop  and  his  instru- 
ment, and  hasted  away  to  the  Medical  College, 
where  he  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  hearing  the  ad- 
mirable lectures  of  his  friend,  the  Doctor,  and  of 
conferring  with  him  on  his  own  experiments. 

Matthew  was  very  social,  and  Mr.  B.  liked  to 
have  him  vary  his  studies  and  labors  by  going  into 
society.  With  this  view  he  had  introduced  him  into 
several  domestic  circles,  where  he  would  find  appre- 


40  THE   BOY  INVENTOR. 

elating  friends,  and  enjoy  the  benefit  of  female  inter- 
course, so  important  to  form  the  manners  of  a  young 
man.  The  circle  was  limited,  for  Matthew  had  not 
much  time  to  spare  to  it;  but  it  was  a  source  of 
great  happiness  to  him,  and  did  for  him  what  little 
his  natural  courtesy  required. 


CHAPTER  III. 

V 

ANECDOTES  AND  CONVERSATIONS. 


EARLY  in  Matthew's  acquaintance  with  Mr.  B. 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  going  to  College.  Mr,  B. 
told  him  there  were  helps  afforded  to  young  men 
like  him,  who  aspired  to  gain  a  literary  education, 
but  whose  means  were  limited.  Matthew  objected, 
"But  I  am  an  Englishman,  and  I  do  not  wish  to 
give  up  my  country."  "  That  makes  no  difference," 
replied  his  friend ;  "  these  funds  were  many  of  them 
given  by  Englishmen,  and  it  would  be  hard  if  the 
fact  of  English  birth  should  debar  one  from  enjoy- 
ing their  benefits."  Yet  Matthew  could  not  bring 
his  mind  to  be  aided  pecuniarily.  "  I  can  earn  the 
money,"  said  he,  "  and  I  had  rather  do  so."  In  the 
course  of  their  conversations  his  friend  mentioned 
4* 


42  THE  BOY  INVENTOR. 

the  case  of  one  young  man  who  had  found  the 
means  of  paying  his  way  through  college  by  insur- 
ing his  life,  and  borrowing  the  money  upon  that 
security.  Matthew  inquired  how  this  was  done,  and 
the  conversation  made  an  impression  on  his  mind, 
though  he  did  not  act  upon  the  -idea  at  that  time. 
But  when,  a  year  after,  he  found  it  necessary  to 
borrow  money  to  establish  himself  in  business,  he 
decided  to  get  his  life  insured,  as  a  security  for 
his  obligations.  It  was  his  own  proposal,  not  sug- 
gested by  any  doubt  or  question  on  the  part  of  the 
friend  who  aided  him.  The  arrangement  was  made, 
and  Matthew  secured,  by  the  payment  of  about 
twenty  dollars  a  year,  a  thousand  dollars,  to  be  paid 
in  case  of  his  death.  This  took  all  burden  off  his 
mind,  for  he  felt  no  doubt  of  his  being  able  to  pay 
all  his  borrowed  money  if  he  should  live,  and  he 
now  saw  that  even  if  he  should  not  live  to  carry  his 
plans  into  execution,  those  who  trusted  him  would 
not  lose  their  advances. 

We  have  told  candidly  Matthew's  attachment  to 


THE   BOY  INVENTOR.  43 

the  name  of  Englishman,  early  in  the  term  of  his 
acquaintanceship  with  Mr.  B.,  and  that  gentleman 
never  by  a  word  intentionally  did  anything  to 
weaken  this  attachment.  But  after  Matthew's  visit 
home,  his  feelings  on  this  subject  seemed  to  have 
undergone  a  change.  He  never  spoke  unkindly 
of  his  native  country,  but  he  said  decidedly  that 
he  preferred  America.  He  probably  found  some- 
thing in  the  manners  of  the  people  in  England 
which  made  him  feel  more  sensibly  the  distinc- 
tions of  rank  and  station  than  he  did  here.  He 
never  said  what  had  wrought  the  change  in  his 
feelings,  but  the  change  was  decided,  and  as  soon 
as  he  became  of  age  he  was  naturalized  in  the 
legal  form. 


HIS  EARLY  FANCY  FOE  THE  STAGE. 

When  Matthew  was  a  child,  in  England,  his 
"cleverness,"  as  the  English  call  it,  his  smartness 
or  talent,  as  we  should  say,  brought  him  early  into 


44  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

notice.  It  was  common  at  that  time  to  have  social 
gatherings,  called  Temperance  Tea-Parties,  where 
the  price  of  admission  was  very  low,  and  the  amuse- 
ment such  as  the  guests  could  provide  among  them- 
selves. Among  the  rest,  little  theatrical  pieces,  of 
their  own  contrivance,  were  very  popular,  and  in 
these  Matt  was  a  useful  performer.  He  was  very 
little,  but  very  bright,  and  he  did  for  parts  where  a 
larger  boy  would  not  have  answered.  He  spoke 
pieces,  too,  and  tasted  the  pleasure  of  applause. 
This,  perhaps,  led  him,  when  he  was  older,  and  had 
come  to  America,  away  from  all  his  acquaintances, 
to  take  pleasure  in  attending  the  theatre;  from, 
which  sprung  the  desire  to  become  an  actor.  But 
it  was  no  inferior  station  in  the  profession  that  he 
thought  of.  To  be  a  Macready,  a  Forrest,  or  a 
Booth,  that  was  the  object  of  his  ambition.  Mr.  B. 
by  no  means  approved  this  idea,  but  he  did  not  vig- 
orously oppose  it.  He  merely  told  Matthew  the 
facts  about  the  low  standing  of  the  theatrical  pro- 
fession in  our  day.  Matthew,  somewhat  later,  made 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  45 

acquaintance  with  Mr.  Gilbert  and  Mr.  Barry,  of 
the  Boston  stage,  and  these  gentlemen  confirmed  all 
that  Mr.  B.  had  said,  and  decidedly  discouraged 
Matthew's  devoting  himself  to  the  profession.  He 
gradually  talked  less  about  it,  and  as  his  mind  ex- 
panded, and  especially  as  he  became  interested  in 
his  mechanical  pursuits,  he  ceased  ever  to  allude  to 
the  stage  as  a  profession  for  him. 

It  may  seem  strange  that,  with  his  early  fondness 
for  scientific  objects,  he  should  have  ever  indulged 
the  thought  of  abandoning  his  occupation  for  an- 
other. But  young  people  are  not  always  consistent, 
and  Matthew,  as  an  apprentice,  saw  only  the  least 
attractive  part  of  his  calling.  He  had  to  make,  over 
and  over  again,  the  inferior  parts  of  instruments, 
never  being  intrusted  with  the  higher  portions, 
which  were  the  department  of  his  employer  himself. 
But  when  Matthew  became  his  own  master,  and 
more,  when  he  began  to  originate  contrivances  the 
credit  of  which  would  be  his  own,  he  felt  no  dispo- 
sition to  abandon  his  art.  He  did  not  even  contem- 


46  THE   BOY  INVENTOR. 

plate  ceasing  to  be  a  mathematical-instrument  maker, 
when  he  should  have  acquired  his  collegiate  educa- 
tion. He  often  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  advan- 
tage his  handicraft  trade  would  be  to  him  in  philo- 
sophical investigations.  "  Those  who  invented  the 
telescope,  the  theodolite,  and  other  instruments,"  he 
would  say,  "  had  to  find  workmen  to  carry  out  their 
ideas.  If  I  have  any  thought  of  the  kind,  I  can 
execute  it  myself."  He  estimated  equally  the  ben- 
efit which  he  derived  from  his  books.  His  friend, 
Dr.  Bacon,  had  lent  him  Brewster's  work  on  Optics 
and  Dick's  Practical  Astronomer.  These  works 
delighted  him,  by  giving  him  a  reason  for  practices 
which  he  had  already  learned  experimentally.  In 
adapting  the  lens  to  the  telescope,  workmen  usu- 
ally ascertain  by  experiment  the  proper  distance 
from  the  object-glass  at  which  to  place  the  lens. 
Matthew  learned  from  his  books  how  to  calculate 
the  focal  distance  of  any  lens,  and  consequently  its 
proper  position  in  the  instrument.  His  ambition 
was  to  unite  the  characters  of  the  skilful  artificer 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  47 

and  the  accomplished  scholar,  —  a  character  per- 
haps never  yet  exhibited  to  the  world.  There  have 
been  many  mechanics  who  have  acquired  respecta- 
ble literary  cultivation,  and  there  have  been  many 
learned  men  and  statesmen  who  have  been  ama- 
teur mechanics;  but  Matthew's  object  was  thor- 
oughness in  both  departments. 

MATTHEW'S  RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS. 

When  he  was  a  boy,  in  England,  there  came  to 
the  place  where  he  lived  a  party  of  surveyors,  em- 
ployed by  government  to  make  a  survey  of  the  whole 
of  England.  Among  them  were  some  Germans, 
who  had  accommodation  in  the  house  where  Mat- 
thew lived.  Matthew  was  often  in  their  company, 
and  heard  them  converse,  sometimes,  on  religion. 
They  had  a  light  way  of  talking  about  matters  usu- 
ally held  sacred,  and  infected  Matthew  somewhat 
with  their  notions;  such  as,  that  nothing  is  real 
but  what  we  can  see,  touch,  or  otherwise  subject  to 


48  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

the  examination  of  our  senses ;  that  religion  is  a  mat- 
ter of  mystery ;  that  it  may  be  true,  or  may  not  be, 
and  there  is  no  demonstration  on  this  side  or  on 
that.  It  was  to  counteract  this  way  of  thinking  that 
Mr.  B.  lent  him  Paley's  Natural  Theology.  This 
work  argues  for  the  existence  of  a  Being,  the  intel- 
ligent cause  of  all  things,  possessing  the  attributes  of 
wisdom,  power,  and  goodness,  and  draws  its  proofs 
from  the  evident  adaptation  of  the  things  we  see 
around  us  to  promote  the  happiness  of  living  beings. 
If  a  traveller  should  find  a  watch  lying  upon  the 
road,  he  would  not  hesitate  to  infer,  from  examining 
it,  though  he  had  never  seen  one  before,  that  it  was 
the  work  of  some  intelligent  person,  who  had  a 
design  in  making  such  an  ingenious  arrangement  of 
wheels,  springs,  and  pointers,  all  adapted  to  mark 
the  lapse  of  time.  The  world,  Paley  contends, 
is  such  an  instrument,  or  rather  is  full  of  such 
instruments,  evidently  designed  for  a  purpose,  and 
exhibiting  the  utmost  ingenuity  in  contrivance  to 
accomplish  the  purpose  intended.  This  argument 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  49 

Paley  develops  in  a  most  interesting  manner,  carry- 
ing it  through  the  various  departments  of  the  human 
frame,  and  then  through  other  of  the  works  of  nature. 
Matthew  found  the  argument  satisfactory,  and  highly 
enjoyed  Paley's  treatment  of  it. 

Still  his  mind  would  often  revert  to  the  supposed 
certainty  of  things  which  we  see  and  handle,  beyond 
that  of  those  about  which  we  merely  reason.  One 
day  he  met  with  a  serious  disappointment  in  his 
work.  A  part  on  which  he  had  spent  much  careful 
labor  was  found  imperfect  in  the  finishing,  and  had 
to  be  done  over  again.  The  next  Sunday  he  at- 
tended service  at  King's  Chapel,  and  heard  Presi- 
dent "Walker  preach.  He  always  enjoyed  the 
President's  discourses,  for  they  stimulated  the  think- 
ing faculty,  which  always  gave  him  pleasure.  On 
this  occasion  the  preacher  enforced  his  topic  with  his 
usual  skill,  and  left  his  auditors,  not  only  satisfied 
with  the  view  he  took,  but  wondering  how  anybody 
should  ever  have  taken  a  different  one.  Matthew 
expressed  his  satisfaction  in  warm  terms ;  yet,  after 
5 


50  THE    BOY  INVENTOK. 

a  pause,  he  added :  "  What  the  President  says  seems 
very  true,  but  how  do  I  know  but  that  there  may  be 
another  side  to  the  question,  and  if  I  knew  more  I 
might  see  that  he  is  mistaken  ?  Now  there  is  the 
difference  between  such  matters  and  those  in  which  I 
labor.  Nothing  whatever  could  prove  to  me  that  my 
circle  is  not  a  failure.  I  see  it  to  be  so,  and  there  is 
no  room  for  doubt."  To  this  it  was  replied,  that  the 
evidence  of  the  senses  is  but  one  kind  of  evidence, 
and  not  by  any  means  the  most  trustworthy.  He 
was  reminded  how  deceptive  that  evidence  is  in 
regard  to  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and 
how  many  ages  it  took  for  men  to  learn,  from  a  dif- 
ferent kind  of  evidence,  that  it  is  the  earth  which 
turns  round,  and  not  the  heavens.  "  Still,"  said  he, 
"  I  am  willing  to  believe  my  eyes  and  ears."  This 
opened  a  wide  conversation,  which  was  but  one  of 
many  that  he  had  with  his  elder  friend,  in  which  the 
latter  did  what  he  could,  without  entering  into  argu- 
ment, to  give  him  correct  notions  of  the  higher  sub- 
jects of  knowledge,  and  teach  him  the  office  of  faith. 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  51 

"  Faith,"  said  Matthew,  "  is  the  evidence  of  things 
not  seen,"  as  if  he  meant  to  say  that  it  was  but  equiv- 
alent to  no  evidence  at  all.  "Not  so,"  said  his 
instructor.  "  You  have  faith  in  me,  that  I  love  you 
and  mean  to  do  you  good ;  but  you  have  no  evidence 
but  your  inferences  from  what  you  observe  in  me." 
Matthew's  thoughts  on  these  subjects  will  be  recog- 
nized as  the  natural  growth  of  a  mind  of  a  mechan- 
ical turn.  It  is  the  opposite  tendency  to  the  "  tran- 
scendental." 

Here  it  would  give  his  biographer  great  pleasure 
to  be  able  to  say  that  Matthew  found  in  the  pages  of 
Scripture  what  science  and  observation  fail  to  teach. 
To  this  point  his  elder  friend  endeavored  to  lead 
him,  and  flattered  himself  that,  as  time  passed 
away,  he  made  gradual  approaches  to  it.  But  the 
engrossing  nature  of  Matthew's  pursuits  (as  is  too 
generally  the  case  with  the  young  and  ambitious) 
had  prevented  his  paying  much  attention  to  sacred 
things ;  and,  though  there  was  no  irreverence  in  his 
allusions  to  such  subjects,  there  was  not  that  con- 


52  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

cern  for  them  which  there  ought  to  be  in  every 
thoughtful  mind.  His  friend  trusted  to  time,  and 
to  the  silent  influences  which  he  might  bring 
around  him,  to  produce  in  him  a  religious  char- 
acter. 


MATTHEW'S  HABITS  OF  LIFE. 

His  habits  of  life  were  the  natural  result  of  his 
principles  of  self-tasking  and  self-devotion.  To  rise 
early ;  to  bathe  all  over  in  cold  water,  without  re- 
gard to  the  temperature  of  the  weather;  to  dis- 
pense with  an  overcoat,  till  it  was  forced  upon  him 
by  his  more  prudent  friend;  to  study  late  at  night, 
and  in  a  room  without  a  fire ;  —  these  are  speci- 
mens of  his  way  of  life.  He  adopted  a  vegetable 
diet,  because  he  could  not  reconcile  it  to  his  no- 
tions of  right  to  slaughter  animals  for  food.  He 
declared  that  he  relished  his  simple  food,  potatoes, 
rice,  johnny-cakes,  and  particularly  some  nice  por- 
ridge, which  the  lady  at  whose  house  he  boarded 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  53 

cooked  for  him,  better  than  he  ever  had  done  ani- 
mal food.  Against  this  notion  his  old-fashioned 
friend  employed  argument  and  joke,  but  without 
avail.  He  thought  it  would  soon  come  to  an  end 
of  itself,  and  therefore  did  not  feel  anxious  about 
it ;  especially  as,  upon  inquiring  of  some  judicious 
medical  friends  upon  the  subject,  he  found  them  by 
no  means  strenuous  in  opposition  to  the  practice, 
particularly  in  Matthew's  case,  whose  temperament 
was  decidedly  ardent.  So  it  went  on,  and,  to  all 
appearance,  he  throve  well  upon  his  simple  fare,  to 
which  he  adhered  most  scrupulously  for  the  last 
eighteen  months  of  his  life.  He  was  proud  of 
the  success  of  his  experiment,  and,  finding  that  he 
kept  up  his  flesh  and  strength,  considered  that  he 
had  demonstrated  its  good  effects.  One  day  he 
called  at  Mr.  B.'s  room  at  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. He  came  in  with  a  countenance  full  of  sat- 
isfaction, and  told  Mr.  B.  he  had  finished  an  in- 
strument he  was  about,  and  had  carried  it  home. 
He  added,  "I  have  not  been  in  bed  for  thirty-two 
5* 


54  THE  BOY   INVENTOB. 

hours.  I  promised  to  .have  this  job  done  this 
morning,  but  last  evening  it  was  not  near  done, 
and  I  have  kept  at  it  all  night,  and  almost  to  this 
time ;  for  I  could  not  bear  to  have  them  call  for 
it  and  find  it  unfinished.  And  now  I  don't  feel  at 
all  tired;  so  you  see  what  vegetable  diet  will  do." 
Mr.  B.  felt  really  distressed,  and  replied,  "  Mat- 
thew, I  do  not  praise  you  for  this."  He  added 
earnest  dissuasions  from  such  lavish  expenditure 
of  health  and  life  (for  so  he  considered  it),  point- 
ing to  examples  of  individuals  who  had  sacrificed 
both  by  similar  imprudent  conduct.  Matthew  re- 
plied, that  he  did  not  mean  to  do  so  again,  but 
this  was  a  special  case;  he  had  given  his  word, 
&c.,  &c. 

The  question  will  arise,  to  some  minds,  whether 
it  was  wise  in  Matthew's  friend  to  encourage  one 
so  devoted  to  a  special  pursuit  to  add  another  to  it, 
and  that  so  arduous  a  one  as  the  preparation  for 
college.  Mr.  B.  had  this  thought,  and  never  stim- 
ulated Matthew  in  the  slightest  degree  to  get  on 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  55 

with  his  studies.  But  he  was  also  convinced,  from 
his  own  experience,  that  the  best  sort  of  rest  for 
mental  exertion  is  found  in  change  of  occupation. 
The  Latin  exercise  would  banish  the  thoughts  of 
the  theodolite  for  a  time  from  the  mind,  which 
mere  inaction  would  fail  to  do.  But  as  the  crisis 
of  the  instrument  approached,  Matthew  did  in  fact 
suspend  his  studies,  and  for  a  month  or  six  weeks 
brought  no  lesson  with  him  to  the  evening  meet- 
ing, which  was  spent  in  reading  or  talk.  They 
were  reading  the  History  of  the  French  Revolution, 
finishing  off  with  a  chapter  or  two  of  Don  Quix- 
ote ;  but,  before  and  after  the  reading,  there  was 
time  to  talk  over  the  progress  of  the  instrument, 
and  plans  for  the  future. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

ANECDOTES  AND   CONVERSATIONS. 


CONTISTUED. 


THOUGH  Matthew  had  been  brought  up  in  hum- 
ble circumstances,  and  had  been  much  in  inter- 
course with  the  lowest  classes,  having  crossed  the 
ocean  three  times  as  a  steerage  passenger,  an  asso- 
ciate with  the  sailors  and  poor  emigrants,  he  had  con- 
tracted no  taint  of  vulgarity.  In  all  the  intercourse 
which  Mr.  B.  had  with  him,  he  never  heard  him 
utter  a  profane  or  indecent  expression,  and  this, 
though  he  has  stood  by  him  at  his  work,  when  some- 
times tools  would  not  work  well,  or  materials  would 
slip  or  fall  or  otherwise  prove  refractory.  Mat- 
thew told  his  friend  many  laughable  stories  of  the 
scenes  he  had  witnessed,  but  there  was  not  one 
which  might  not  have  been  told  in  the  most  refined 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  57 

circle  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  without  the  slight- 
est impropriety.  He  often  expressed,  in  general 
terms,  his  disgust  at  much  that  he  had  seen,  but 
the  details  seem  to  have  been  rejected  by  his 
pure  taste,  so  as  to  form  no  part  of  the  stores  of 
his  memory. 

He  had  one  fault  in  conversation.  As  he  felt 
strongly,  he  was  apt  to  speak  with  energy  dispro- 
portioned  to  the  subject.  One  anecdote  will  illus- 
trate this.  In  reading  Macaulay's  account  of  the 
trial  of  Warren  Hastings  they  came  to  the  passage 
where  he  speaks  of  the  "  silver  voice "  of  Cowper, 
the  clerk,  who  read  the  documents.  "  Silver  voice," 
said  Matthew,  with  a  sneer,  "what  nonsense!  I 
detest  such  phrases.  They  mean  nothing."  "I 
don't  know,"  said  Mr.  B.,  coolly,  "I  think  the 
phrase  is  not  so  bad.  Perhaps  he  was  thinking  of 
the  sound  of  a  silver  bell;  at  any  rate,  you  may 
be  sure  Mr.  Macaulay  did  not  use  the  expression 
carelessly,  and  without  reflection.  And  if  he  did, 
it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  get  so  excited  about  it. 


58  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

You  might  say,  'I  don't  like  it,  I  think  it  not  a 
well-chosen  expression;'  but  it  is  not  necessary  to 
detest  it."  They  read  on,  and  having  finished  their 
reading,  drew  round  the  fire.  Mr.  B.  had  quite 
forgotten  the  incident,  when  Matthew  said,  "I  am 
afraid,  sir,  you  don't  tell  me  of  my  faults  so  much 
as  I  deserve.  I  was  very  foolish  about  that  silver 
voice"  "  No,  Matthew,  not  very  foolish,  only  a 
little  so,  and  I  will  promise  to  tell  you  all  such 
faults  as  I  see."  The  next  meeting  he  was  able  to 
show  Matthew  a  further  proof  that  he  had  been 
too  hasty  in  his  criticism.  The  expression  is  in 
fact  borrowed  from  a  sonnet  of  the  poet  Cowper, 
addressed  to  his  cousin  Cowper,  the  clerk,  alluding 
to  this  very  occasion,  and  beginning,  — 

"  Cowper,  whose  silver  voice,  tasked  sometimes  hard." 

Matthew's  vegetable  diet  often  drew  a  sportive 
allusion.  One  day,  sitting  by  the  fire,  eating  an 
apple,  he  said,  "Will  you  please  lend  me  your 
knife  to  cut  out  this  worm?"  Mr.  B.  handed  him 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  59 

the  knife,  and  said,  "As  I  know  your  prejudice 
against  animal  food,  I  will."  "I  have  gone  one 
step  further,  of  late,"  said  Matthew ;  "  when  I  cut 
out  a  worm  from  an  apple,  I  cut  out  a  piece  large 
enough  to  give  him  something  to  live  on."  Mr.  B., 
smiling,  rejoined,  "But  how  can  you  justly  take 
any  part  from  him,  as  he  had  the  first  right ? "  "I 
have  my  rights  too,"  said  Matthew. 

He  was  fond  of  quoting  Shakespeare.  Enjoying 
in  prospect  the  success  of  his  instrument,  he  would 
borrow  the  language  of  Stephano,  in  the  Tempest, 
where  he  speaks  of  taking  Caliban  to  England,  to 
make  a  show  of  him,  or  sell  him.  "  I  will  not  take 
too  much  for  him,"  he  would  say,  with  a  knowing 
shake  of  the  head,  adding,  "  He  shall  pay  for  him 
that  hath  him,  and  that  soundly." 

But  his  favorite  poet  was  Goldsmith.  When  any 
difficulty  rose,  he  would  say, — 

"  Every  want  that  stimulates  the  breast 
Becomes  a  source  of  pleasure  when  redressed; " 


60  THE   BOY  INVENTOR. 

and,  alluding  to  the  case  of  those  who  have  not  had 
the  benefits  of  education,  he  would  say,  — 

"  Unknown  to  them,  when  sensual  pleasures  cloy, 
To  fill  the  languid  pause  with  finer  joy." 

Another  line,  too,  was  often  on  his  lips, — 
"  To  know  the  solid  worth  of  self-applause." 

Matthew's  shop  was  in  the  fourth  story  of  a 
house  on  Washington  Street,  and  in  the  correspond- 
ing story  of  the  opposite  house  there  was  a  room 
occupied  by  seamstresses.  When  Matthew  lifted 
his  eyes  from  his  work,  he  sometimes  caught  those 
of  his  opposite  neighbors,  resting  for  a  moment, 
while  the  needle  stood  still  in  the  hem.  A  nod 
and  a  smile  sometimes  followed,  and  kindly  sympa- 
thies darted  across  the  street  quicker  than  the  spark 
in  Matthew's  electrical  machine.  One  day  he  saw 
an  apple-woman,  with  her  basket,  dispensing  her 
wares  among  the  girls.  Matthew  was  always  fond 
of  an  apple,  so  he  beckoned  to  the  woman  to  come 
over  to  him.  Before  long,  she  arrived  with  her 


THE  BOY  INVENTOR.  61 

fruit,  but  would  not  allow  him  to  buy  any,  present- 
ing him  with  four  of  the  finest  as  a  present  from 
his  opposite  neighbors.  "We  may  be  sure  this 
caused  the  nods  and  smiles  to  fly  faster  than  ever 
from  Matthew's  side  of  the  street.  Next  day  he 
made  a  return  for  the  civility  by  sending  some 
fruit,  the  best  he  could  get,  to  his  fair  friends. 

Matthew  was  much  amused,  in  reading  the  French 
Revolution,  by  a  passage  which  describes  the  me- 
chanical tastes  of  the  king,  Louis  XVI.  The  his- 
torian says :  "  He  never  felt  so  happy  as  when,  hav- 
ing dismissed  his  council,  he  could  steal  up  the 
little  staircase  which  led  to  his  forge,  which  was 
situated  in  the  roof  of  his  palace,  and  where  he 
found  his  fellow-laborer,  a  locksmith,  named  Gamin. 
The  king  was  proud  of  showing  his  robust  constitu- 
tion by  carrying  about,  with  his  own  arms,  the  anvil 
and  other  tools  with  which  he  worked."  Matthew 
laughed  heartily  at  this.  "I  wouldn't  have  such  a 
workman  ia  my  shop,"  said  he. 

We  have  not  yet  described  his  personal  appear- 
6 


62  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

ance.  When  Mr.  B.  first  knew  him,  at  about  nine- 
teen years  old,  he  was  rather  small  for  his  age. 
As  he  stood  at  his  work-bench  at  Mr.  Temple's, 
with  coat  off  and  sleeves  rolled  up,  his  appearance 
was  that  of  a  slender  lad,  about  five  feet  in 
height  After  that  time  he  grew  rapidly,  and  at 
his  full  growth  was  five  feet  nine  inches  tall,  and 
weighed  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds.  His 
hair  was  dark  red,  his  complexion  beautifully  fair, 
his  eyes  blue,  with  light  eyebrows  and  lashes, 
his  nose  well  formed,  his  mouth  somewhat  large, 
with  perfect  teeth  and  bright  red  lips,  and  capa- 
ble of  a  smile  of  the  most  winning  expression. 
But  the  most  striking  feature  of  his  face  was  his 
lofty  forehead,  surmounted  with  a  pile  of  red  hair, 
which  he  had  not  yet  learned  to  arrange  with  skill. 
His  cheeks  were  blooming,  his  step  elastic,  and  his 
whole  appearance  that  of  vigorous  health.  His 
address  was  modest,  yet  self-possessed  and  prepos- 
sessing. If  his  eyebrows  and  eyelashes  had  been 
a  shade  darker,  he  would  have  been  decidedly 
handsome. 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  63 

He  always  dressed  neatly,  and  was  very  cleanly 
in  his  habits.  Mr.  B.  thought  that  he  observed  an 
exception  to  this  in  the  state  of  his  nails,  and 
spoke  to  him  about  it.  But  he  found  that  the  dis- 
coloration was  the  necessary  consequence  of  his 
work,  and  that  it  was  not  to  be  washed  off.  Mat- 
thew proudly  added,  "  Though  my  nails  look  black, 
I  will  not  yield  to  any  of  the  young  men  you  meet 
in  society  in  cleanliness." 

Matthew  found  many  difficulties  in  making  his 
instrument.  There  were  parts  of  it  which  as  an 
apprentice  he  had  never  made ;  nor  had  he  ever 

seen  them  made,  for  it  is  not   allowed  to  an  a'p- 

T-  — 
prentice  to  quit  his  work  to  look  over  his  master 

or  older  workmen  to  see  their  processes.  In  mak- 
ing such  parts  he  had  to  learn  his  business  by 
doing  it.  It  is  therefore  no  wonder  if  he  made 
some  mistakes.  When  these  happened,  he  usually 
took  courage  and  tried  again ;  and  generally  suc- 
ceeded in  a  second  attempt.  One  day  he  met  with 
a  failure  so  serious  that  he  could  not  at  once  pluck 


64  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

up  heart  to  begin  again.  He  went  home  to  dinner, 
and  after  dinner,  instead  of  hastening  back  to  the 
shop  as  usual,  he  sat  on  the  sofa,  with  his  head  on 
his  hand,  every  now  and  then  uttering  a  word  or 
two  to  himself,  expressive  of  his  mortification  and 
disappointment.  At  last  he  started  up  and  spoke 
to  the  landlady's  eldest  son,  a  boy  of  about  twelve. 
"  Henry,  have  not  you  got  something  to  amuse  us  ? 
Go  get  some  of  your  playthings."  Henry  brought 
his  magic  lantern,  an  old  toy  which  had  long  ago 
lost  its  attraction.  Matthew  took  it,  and  with  the 
children  for  an  audience,  began  to  exhibit  its  won- 
ders. His  spirits  revived,  he  was  a  boy  again ; 
and  so  droll,  so  diverting  in  his  part  of  showman, 
that  he  kept  the  circle  in  a  roar  of  laughter,  forgot 
his  griefs,  and  enjoyed  the  fun  as  much  as  any  of 
them.  Next  morning  he  returned  to  his  work  with 
renewed  vigor. 

It  was  while  he  was  in  one  of  his  most  serious 
perplexities  that  an  opportunity  occurred  of  doing 
a  kind  office.  Bridget,  the  Irish  girl  in  Mr.  S.'s 


THE    BOY   INVENTOR.  65 

kitchen,  had  sent  home  money  to  pay  her  sister's 
passage  to  Boston ;  but  Susan  had  taken  passage 
to  New  York,  and  Bridget  was  in  great  distress, 
thinking  that  her  sister  would  arrive  in  a  strange 
city,  destitute  of  money  to  carry  her  the  rest  of  the 
way.  Bridget  did  not  know  any  one  in  New  York 
to  ask  to  receive  her  sister  and  help  her  on  her 
way ;  she  only  knew  that  the  name  of  the  ship  was 
the  Dreadnaught.  Matthew  asked  advice  of  his 
friend  Mr.  B.,  who  undertook  to  inquire  among  his 
commercial  friends,  and  learn  the  address  of  the 
owners  of  the  ship.  The  next  time  he  saw  Mat- 
thew, which  was  after  an  interval  of  three  days,  he 
gave  him  the  information ;  but  Matthew  had  already 
learned  it,  written  to  the  gentlemen,  and  got  their 
answer  promising  to  see  Susan  on  her  arrival,  and 
deliver  to  her  any  money  that  might  be  sent  for  her 
use.  All  worked  well.  Susan  arrived  safe  in  Bos- 
ton, and  both  sisters  felt  deeply  obliged  to  Matthew 
for  his  help  in  their  embarrassment. 

Matthew  did  not  allow  his  cares  and  occupations 
6*  E 


66  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

to  make  him  forgetful  of  his  friends  in  England, 
but  kept  up  an  active  correspondence  with  his 
excellent  parents  and  other  connections.  He  often 
alluded  tenderly  to  his  parents,  and  expressed  the 
wish  to  do  something  to  promote  their  comfort. 
"  My  mother  is  old,"  he  would  say,  "  and  it  is  too 
hard  for  her  to  do  all  the  housework.  I  want  to 
be  able  to  send  her  enough  to  hire  a  girl  to  help 
her."  As  his  instrument  approached  completion, 
and  he  expected  soon  to  receive  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  for  it  (having  already  received  fifty), 
he  consulted  his  friend  as  to  the  advisableness  of 
sending  one  hundred  dollars  to  his  parents.  His 
adviser  doubted  whether  it  would  be  judicious  to 
take  so  much  from  his  business  at  that  time,  but 
if  Matthew  had  lived  to  receive  his  pay,  a  part  of 
it  would  surely  have  found  its  way  across  the  At- 
lantic. 

For  one  of  his  improvements  he  claimed  a 
patent,  which  has  since  been  granted.  "My  plan 
is,"  he  said,  "  to  sell  my  patent  for  enough  to  carry 


THE    BOY   INVENTOR.  67 

me  through  college."  But  he,  did  not  mean  to  give 
up  his  shop  while  pursuing  his  college  course.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  his  intention  to  work  at  his 
trade  in  the  vacations,  and  at  intervals  of  leisure. 
"I  have  other  thoughts  in  my  head,"  said  he.  "I 
cannot  but  , think  that  the  telescope  is  capable  of 
being  much  improved."  He  went  on  to  state  some 
of  his  views  upon  this  subject,  but  his  biographer 
does  not  remember  .his  remarks  sufficiently  to  re- 
port them. 


CHAPTER    V. 

MATTHEW'S  EEMOVAL  TO   CAMBRIDGE. 

ONE  of  Matthew's  improvements  on  the  theodo- 
lite related  to  the  part  on  which  the  figures  and 
markings  are  inscribed,  which  figuring  and  mark- 
ing is  called  the  graduation.  His  improvement 
consisted  in  inscribing  the  graduation  in  white  lines 
on  a  black  ground.  It  is  usually  inscribed  in  black 
lines  on  a  white  ground.  His  reasons  for  prefer- 
ring his  method  are  given  in  a  paper,  appended 
to  this  memoir,  which  paper  was  drawn  up  by  him- 
self, unaided,  and  is  here  presented  without  altera- 
tion, except  in  the  spelling  of  a  word  or  two.  His 
idea,  when  he  wrote  it,  was  that  his  method  might 
be  applied  to  book-printing,  as  it  has  already  been 
to  the  printing  of  diagrams  in  works  of  science. 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  69 

This  idea  was,  perhaps,  chimerical;  but  that  does 
not  detract  from  the  correctness  of  his  reasoning, 
nor  from  the  desirableness  of  his  method  for  such 
purposes  as  those  of  his  instrument. 

Matthew's  method  of  inscribing  his  white  gradu- 
ations was  this.  After  the  graduations  were  en- 
graved or  impressed  on  the  brass,  he  immersed  the 
part  in  a  solution  of  silver,  and  by  the  action  of 
the  galvanic  battery  caused  the  silver  to  be  depos- 
ited on  the  brass,  filling  up  the  graduations,  and 
covering  all  the  rest  of  the  surface  with  a  coating 
of  silver.  Then,  with  his  file  or  his  turning  tool, 
he  removed  the  superfluous  silver,  leaving  the  white 
metal  in  the  engraved  lines.  Thus  far  he  had 
used  a  well-known  process,  called  electrotyping. 
The  next  step  was  to  put  a  black  color  on  the 
brass  surface,  so  as  to  show  the  white  letters  to 
advantage.  The  difficulty  here  was  to  blacken  the 
brass  intensely,  without  discoloring  the  silver  at  all. 
Matthew  could  nowhere  find  any  directions  how  to 
do  this.  His  scientific  friends,  even,  thought  it 


70  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

could  not  be  done.  Matthew  set  himself  vigorously 
to  experimenting.  When  recovering  from  sickness 
he  had  read  -the  Conversations  on  Chemistry,  which 
had  given  him  the  groundwork  of  the  science,  and 
enabled  him  to  understand  and  apply  the  directions 
given  in  more  practical  works.  He  soon  learned 
how  to  prepare  his  solutions,  and  to  impart  a 
bronze  dye  to  his  brass,  but  for  a  long  while  he 
could  contrive  no  method  of  doing  this  without 
at  the  same  time  discoloring  the  silver  marks.  But 
he  persevered;  day  after  day  he  spent  in  experi- 
menting; solutions  were  made  and  tried,  only  to 
be  rejected  and  thrown  away.  Every  experiment 
cost  both  money  and  time ;  the  materials  of  his  solu- 
tions were  to  be  bought,  and  when  the  solution  was 
made,  the  metal  pieces  had  to  be  submitted  to  it 
for  hours,  before  the  effect  could  be  judged  of.  It 
was  a  discouraging  process;  but  at  last  a  lucky 
thought  struck  him.  Perhaps  he  might  hasten  the 
operation  by  applying  his  galvanic  battery.  The 
effect  was  admirable.  The  bronzing  which  had  be- 


THE   BOY  INVENTOR.  71 

fore  taken  hours  to  accomplish  was  done  in  as 
many  minutes.  Aided  by  this  discovery,  he  made 
./apid  progress  in  experimenting.  He  soon  selected 
the  solution  which  would  impart  the  best  and  dark- 
est bronze ;  and  found,  to  his  delight,  that,  whatever 
the  cause  might  be,  the  color,  so  laid  on,  did  not 
affect  the  silver  lettering  in  the  slightest  degree. 
For  this  discovery  Matthew  has  since  obtained  a 
patent. 

It  was  at  this  stage  of  his  progress  that  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  gentlemen  at  Cambridge. 
He  tried  his  "  leucographic  graduation"  on  a  ther- 
mometer scale.  "  Leucographic  "  means,  written  in 
white,  from  two  Greek  words.  He  took  his  ther- 
mometer to  Cambridge  Observatory,  and  exhibited 
it  to  Professor  Bond.  That  gentleman,  in  a  note 
to  the  writer,  says,  "  His  leucographic  graduation 
impressed  me  very  favorably.  White  divisions  in- 
laid upon  a  dark  ground  would  have  many  advan- 
tages over  the  customary  method  of  exhibiting  the 
graduations  of  astronomical  instruments."  Appre- 


72  THE    BOY   INVENTOR. 

elating  Matthew's  improvement  so  highly,  it  may 
easily  be  imagined  that  Professor  Bond's  reception 
of  him  was  very  gratifying  to  him.  From  the 
Observatory,  Matthew  went  next  to  call  upon  Pro- 
fessor Eustis,  of  the  Scientific  School.  He  found 
that  gentleman  engaged  at  dinner.  Matthew  sent 
in  his  card  and  was  going  away,  but  the  Professor 
no  sooner  read  the  name  than  he  started  from  the 
table,  ran  out  into  the  entry,  calling,  "  Mr.  Edwards ! 
Mr.  Edwards !  pray  don't  go ;  I  am  very  glad  to 
see  you."  ,He  had  heard  of  Matthew's  improve- 
ments through  some  of  the  young  men  of  the  Sci- 
entific School,  more  than  one  of  whom  had  been 
frequent  visitors  at  Matthew's  shop,  and  felt  a  warm 
interest  in  his  operations.  Professor  Eustis  looked 
at  the  thermometer,  and  heard  Matthew's  account 
of  his  other  improvements,  and  took  him  up  stairs 
to  show  him  some  specimens  of  work  that  he  had 
lately  received  from  Europe  He  would  have  had 
Matthew  stay  to  dinner,  but  Matthew's  "dinner  of 
herbs"  was  already  over.  He  next  called  on  Pro- 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  73 

fessor  Levering,  who  received  him  in  the  same 
cordial  manner,  discussing  with  him  his  new  con- 
trivances with  the  manner,  not  of  a  teacher  to  a 
pupil,  but  of  one  man  of  science  with  another. 

Matthew  came  home  delighted  with  the  reception 
he  had  met  with.  His  object  in  going  to  Cam- 
bridge was  partly  to  look  out  for  accommodations 
there  for  his  workshop  and  home.  He  had  made 
up  his  mind  that  Cambridge  would  be  as  favorable 
a  place  for  his  business  as  "Washington  Street  in 
Boston,  and  certainly  a  much  more  pleasant  one. 
He  could  not  expect  transient  jobs  there,  but  he 
did  not  desire  them.  He  had  made  arrangements 
for  making  six  more  instruments  of  the  same  kind 
as  the  one  he  was  now  employed  on,  and  by  carry- 
ing on  six  at  a  time,  great  saving  in  time  and 
expense  would  be  made.  "When  I  get  the  first 
one  done,"  he  used  to  say,  "with  my  patterns  all 
made,  and  all  my  processes  perfected,  you  will  see 
how  fast  I  will  turn  them  off." 

He  found  accommodations  in  Cambridge  which 
7 


74  THE   BOY  INVENTOR. 

suited  him  exactly.  He  could  get  twice  as  much 
room,  with  better  light  and  better  access,  for  two 
thirds  as  much  money  as  he  had  been  paying.  He 
arranged  to  remove  his  establishment  there,  an£ 
take  possession  the  1st  of  January.  He  enjoyed 
the  prospect  with  enthusiasm.  "Here,"  said  he, 
"at  this  window  I  shall  have  my  bench;  just  see, 
right  opposite  that  apple-tree;  I  shall  have  the 
birds  singing  there  while  I  am  at  my  work."  At 
the  adjoining  house,  where  he  was  to  take  his 
meals,  there  was  a  garden.  He  stipulated  for 

leave  to  work  in  it  as  much  as  he  chose.     He  had 

• 

learned  something  about  such  work  when  he  was  in 
the  country,  and  he  enjoyed  the  prospect  of  turning 
his  information  to  account.  There  were  to  be  some 
students  of  the  College  among  his  fellow-boarders. 
Matthew  did  not  fail  to  think  of  the  subject  of  dress, 
in  this  connection.  He  had  him  an  apron  made  to 
come  up  close  under  his  chin,  so  as  to  protect  his 
shirt-bosom,  and  with  sleeves  to  come  down  over 
his  shirt-sleeves  when  rolled  up,  and  button  round 


THE  BOY  INVENTOR.  75 

the  arm  above  the  elbow.  Thus  when  meal-time 
came  he  might  throw  off  his  apron,  and  be  at  once 
in  neat  and  clean  attire  to  go  in  and  sit  at  table 
with  the  young  gentlemen.  To  prevent  the  noise 
of  his  anvil  from  disturbing  the  students,  who  were 
to  occupy  the  rooms  under  him,  he  was  going  to 
have  a  carpet  on  his  floor.  He  flattered  himself 
his  shop  would  look  so  neat  that  he  should  not  be 
ashamed  to  have  ladies  come  to  see  him;  and  sev- 
eral had  promised  to  look  in  and  see  him,  when  he 
got  established. 

Thus  were  things  situated  when  the  last  week  of 
1859  arrived.  On  Sunday,  which  was  Christmas- 
day,  Matthew  was  at  his  brother's  house,  apparently 
well,  and  certainly  in  high  spirits.  He  read  to  his 
brother  and  sister  an  amusing  story  in  a  magazine, 
and  laughed  in  his  usual  hearty  way  at  it.  They 
have  a  window  looking  up  the  street,  and  they  fol- 
lowed him  with  their  eyes  as  he  went  away,  while 
he  occasionally  turned  round  and  exchanged  nods 
with  them.  On  Monday  he  was  at  his  shop  half 


76  THE    BOY   INVENTOR. 

the  day,  but  feeling  some  rheumatic  pains  in  his 
limbs,  did  not  return  to  his  work  after  dinner.  In 
the  night  he  suffered  much  pain,  so  that  next  morn- 
ing he  got  one  of  his  fellow-boarders  to  call  at  Mr. 
B.'s  door,  and  desire  him  to  come  and  see  him. 
Mr.  B.  went  immediately,  and  found  Matthew  suf- 
fering pains  of  the  same  sort  as  those  which  had 
afflicted  him  two  years  ago.  Dr.  Coolidge,  who 
attended  him  then,  was  sent  for,  and  prescribed  for 
him.  He  suffered  a  good  deal  through  the  day, 
but  had  intermissions,  during  which  he  could  enjoy 
his  book.  Dr.  Coolidge  lent  him  the  life  of  Frank- 
lin. From  certain  points  of  similarity  in  his  history 
to  that  of  Franklin,  his  friend,  Mr.  B.,  had  early 
procured  for  him  the  life  of  that  great  man.  But 
the  penurious  maxims  of  Poor  Richard  were  by  no 
means  pleasing  to  Matthew,  and  the  book  was  laid 
aside.  He  now  took  it  up  again,  and  in  the  course 
of  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  made  good  progress  in 
it.  But  it  did  not  give  him  a  very  exalted  impres- 
sion of  Franklin's  character.  On^  incident  in  par- 


THE   BOY   INVENTOR.  77 

ticular  he  remarked  upon.  It  seems  Franklin, 
when  a  young  printer,  in  London,  boarded  with  a 
widow  lady,  who  was  kind  to  him,  and  being  herself 
an  intelligent  person,  enjoyed  his  society,  and  was 
an  agreeable  companion  to  him.  In  spite  of  this, 
when  Franklin  found  that  he  could  save  one  and 
sixpence  a  week  by  changing  his  boarding-house, 
he  did  not  scruple  to  do  it,  and  would  have  done  it, 
but  for  his  landlady's  consenting  to  abate  as  much 
or  more  from  her  price,  which  she  did,  rather  than 
part  with  him.  On  the  strength  of  this  incident 
Matthew  was  ready  to  dethrone  Franklin  from  his 
position  of  a  great  man.  He  had  to  be  told  that 
Franklin's  greatness  consisted  rather  in  his  intel- 
lectual than  in  his  moral  qualities,  and  that  nobody 
ever  set  him  up  as  a  model  of  generosity. 

Matthew  was  apt  to  fall  into  a  line  of  remark 
very  peculiar  for  a  young  man  of  apparently  vigor- 
ous health  and  of  good  prospects.  "I  do  not  see 
why  one  should  dread  death,"  he  would  say.  "  For 
my  part,  I  have  no  preference  to  live  rather  than 
7* 


78  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

die."  As  they  sat  together  on  the  sofa,  Wednes- 
day afternoon,  Matthew  spoke  in  this  way.  Mr.  B. 
tried  to  give  him  a  different  view  of  things.  He 
reminded  him  of  the  pleasures  in  store  for  him  as 
he  grew  older,  in  visiting  Europe,  and  seeing  those 
places  famous  in  history  of  which  he  had  read; 
Matthew  admitted  it  all,  but  still  repeated  his  entire 
indifference,  whether  to  live  or  die.  Mr.  B.  left 
him,  with  a  kind  parting,  but  by  no  means  a  de- 
sponding one,  for  he  saw  no  reason  for  more  appre- 
hension than  usual. 

Matthew  had  found  lying  in  bed  so  painful,  on 
Tuesday  night,  that  he  dreaded  to  encounter  another 
such.  His  kind  landlady  fixed  up  a  sofa-bed  for 
him  in  the  sitting-room,  where  warmth  was  kept 
up  all  night,  and  the  Doctor  gave  him  some  opiates, 
which  enabled  him  to  sleep.  The  lady  of  the  house 
occupied  an  adjoining  room  to  him,  and  looked  in 
twice  in  the  course  of  the  night,  and  both  times 
found  him  sleeping  as  calmly  as  an  infant.  He 
rose  early,  and  as  his  young  fellow-boarders  came 


THE   BOY  INVENTOR.  79 

down,  and  inquired  how  he  was,  he  replied,  "A3 
well  as  I  could  expect."  Things  looked  rather 
favorable,  and  his  landlady  was  pursuing  her  usual 
occupations  in  the  room  with  him  when  she  heard 
a  gasp,  as  she  expressed  it,  and  looking  round,  saw 
his  head  fall  back.  She  ran  to  him,  calling  to  those 
in  the  next  room  to  bring  water,  for  she  thought 
he  had  fainted.  Water  was  brought,  and  she  threw 
some  in  his  face,  and  laid  him  down  on  the  sofa. 
One  of  the  boarders  brought  hartshorn  and  applied 
it  to  his  nose.  He  turned  away,  and  that  was  the 
last  sign  of  voluntary  motion. 

Just  then,  at  about  nine  o'clock,  Mr.  B.  arrived. 
He  saw  him  lifeless,  surrounded  by  the  weeping 
women  of  the  house,  and  by  the  young  men  board- 

*      ' 

ers,  all  in  great  distress,  for  he  was  a  general 
favorite.  The  shock  to  this  friend,  who  for  nearly 
three  years  had  been  so  intimately  connected  with 
Matthew,  had  shared  all  his  hopes,  and  rejoiced  in 
every  new  development  of  his  powers,  was  over- 
whelming. Yet  he  knew  too  well  the  nature  of  the 


80  THE   BOY   INVENTOR. 

complaint  to  feel  surprised  at  the  event.  He 
stooped  down  and  kissed  him,  and  then,  having 
sent  one  of  the  young  men  to  communicate  the  sad 
news  to  the  elder  brother,  departed. 

The  funeral  took  place  on  Saturday,  December 
31,  at  King's  Chapel.  There  was  an  attendance 
unusually  large  for  the  obsequies  of  one  so  young, 
and  unconnected  with  society  by  family  ties.  Among 
those  present  were  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
individuals  of  our  city  for  station  and  merit.  The 
coffin  was  almost  covered  with  flowers,  the  gift  of 
friends  whom  Matthew's  own  merits  had  won  for 
him.  The  body  was  carried  to  Mount  Auburn 
Cemetery,  and  deposited  in  the  lot  of  his  friend 

Mr.  B. 

• 

In  reviewing  the  fate  of  one  so  worthy  of  living, 
and  so  early  taken  away,  we  are  apt  to  ask  ourselves 
whether  it  might  not  have  been  prevented  if  he  had 
been  less  ambitious,  less  self-exacting.  The  reply  is, 
if  he  had  been  so,  he  would  not  have  been  himself, 
but  another.  Those  qualities  constituted  his  individ- 


THE    BOY   INVENTOE.  81 

uality;  and  though  we  may  regret  that  he  had  not 
with  them  more  prudence,  it  is  like  our  regret  that  he 
had  not  a  better  physical  constitution.  His  peculiar- 
ities both  of  mind  and  body  were  God's  gift ;  and  it 

is  our  part  to  be  grateful  for  what  he  gave,  and  not 

• 
to  repine  at  what  he  was  pleased  to  withhold. 

So  passed  away  this  energetic,  pure,  and  loving 
spirit.  Among  the  last  of  his  poetical  readings 
were  those  lines  of  Milton  in  which  he  laments  a 
young  friend  snatched  away  by  a  similar  premature 
death;  and  surely  to  no  one  could  they  be  more 
fitly  applied  than  to  the  subject  of  our  memoir. 

"  Fame  is  the  spur  that  the  pure  spirit  doth  raise, 

(That  last  infirmity  of  noble  mind,) 
To  scorn  delights,  and  live  laborious  days ; 

But  the  fair  guerdon  when  we  hope  to  find, 
And  think  to  burst  out  into  sudden  blaze, 

Comes  the  blind  Fury  with  the  abhorred  shears, 
And  clips  the  thin-spun  life.     But  not  the  praise 

That  lives  and  spreads  aloft  by  the  pure  eyes, 
And  perfect  witness  of  all-judging  Jove. 
As  he  pronounces  lastly  on  each  deed, 
Of  so  much  fame  in  Heaven  expect  thy  meed." 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 

INDENTURE   OF  APPRENTICESHIP. 

WE  here  give  a  copy  of  Matthew's  indenture 
of  apprenticeship.  It  is  written  on  parchment, 
and  bears  on  the  corner  a  stamp,  marked  one 
pound.  The  document  is  indented,  that  is,  cut  in 
dents  or  scallops  on  the  edge,  from  whence  comes 
the  name. 

"This  indenture  witnesseth  that  Matthew  Ed- 
wards, of  Derby,  in  the  County  of  Derby,  by  and 
with  the  consent  of  his  father,  William  Edwards,  of 
the  same  place,  doth  put  himself  apprentice  to  John 
Davis,  of  Derby,  aforesaid,  Optician,  to  learn  his  art, 
and  with  him,  after  the  manner  of  an  apprentice,  to 
serve,  from  the  day  of  the  date  of  these  presents, 


84  APPENDIX. 

until  the  thirteenth  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty-nine,  dur- 
ing which  term  the  said  Apprentice  his  said  Master 
faithfully  shall  serve,  his  secrets  keep,  his  lawful 
commands  everywhere  gladly  do.  He  shall  do  no 
damage  to  his  said  Master,  nor  see  it  done  by  others, 
but  to  his  power  shall  let,  or  forthwith  give  warning 
to  his  said  Master,  of  the  same.  He  shall  not  waste 
the  goods  of  his  said  Master,  nor  give  or  lend  them 
unlawfully  to  any ;  he  shall  neither  buy  nor  sell  with- 
out his  said  Master's  leave ;  Taverns,  Inns,  or  Ale- 
houses he  shall  not  haunt ;  at  Cards,  Dice,  Tables,  or 
any  other  unlawful  games  he  shall  not  play ;  Matri- 
mony he  shall  not  contract ;  nor  from  the  service  of 
his  said  Master,  by  day,  absent  himself;  but  in  all 
things,  as  a  faithful  Apprentice,  he  shall  behave  him- 
self towards  his  said  Master  and  all  his  family  during 
the  said  term. 

"  And  the  said  John  Davis,  the  said  Apprentice  in 
the  Art  of  an  Optician,  which  he  now  useth,  shall 
and  will  teach  and  instruct,  or  cause  to  be  taught  and 
instructed,  in  the  best  way  and  manner  that  he  can, 
and  shall  pay  unto  the  said  Apprentice,  during  the 
first  year  of  the  said  term  the  sum  of  two  shillings 


APPENDIX.  85 

and  sixpence  per  week ;  during  the  second  year 
thereof  the  sum  of  three  shillings  and  sixpence  per 
week  ;  during  the  third  year  the  sum  of  four  shillings 
and  sixpence  per  week ;  during  the  fourth  year  the 
sum  of  five  shillings  and  sixpence  per  week ;  during 
the  fifth  year  the  sum  of  six  shillings  and  sixpence 
per  week ;  during  the  sixth  year  the  sum  of  seven 
shillings  and  sixpence  per  week ;  during  the  seventh 
year  the  sum  of  eight  shillings  and  sixpence  per 
week ;  during  the  eighth  year  the  sum  of  nine  shil- 
lings and  sixpence  per  week ;  and  during  the  remain- 
der of  the  said  term  the  sum  of  te'n  shillings  and 
sixpence  per  week. 

"  And  for  the  true  performance  of  all  and  every, 
the  said  Covenants  and  Agreements,  each  of  the  said 
Parties  bindeth  himself  unto  the  other  firmly  by 
these  presents.  In  witness  whereof  the  Parties 
aforesaid  to  these  Indentures  have  hereunto  respec- 
tively set  their  Hands  and  Seals,  the  Fourth  day  of 
March,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  Reign  of  our 
Sovereign  Lady,  Victoria,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of 
the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
Queen,  Defender  of  the  Faith;  and  in  the  year  of 
8 


86  APPENDIX. 

our   Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred   and  fifty- 
one. 

"Sealed  and  delivered  (be-^ 

The  signatures  have  been  cut 
ing  first  duly  stamped)  in  the 

away,  and  across  the  face  of  the 
presence  of  }•   _ 

Indenture  the  following  words 
I.  H.  PICKERING, 

are  written:  — 
Solicitor,  Derby."     J 

"  We  the  undersigned  cancel  this  Indenture. 
"  Derby,  March  7,  1853. 

"(Signed,)  MATTHEW  EDWARDS, 
WILLIAM  EDWAKDS, 
JOHN  DAVIS." 

And  on  the  back  there  is  written :  — 

"Matthew  Edwards  has  been  in  my  employ  for 
two  years,  during  which  time  I  have  found  him  uni- 
formly honest,  and  this  indenture  was  cancelled  by 
mutual  consent. 

"JOHN  DAVIS,  Optician. 

"Derby,  March  7, 1853." 


APPENDIX.  87 

No.  II. 

EXTRACTS  FEOM  CORRESPONDENCE. 

To  MR.  B. 

Harrington,  N.  H.,  July  23, 1858. 

THIS  is  a  cloudy  day,  so  that  we  cannot  work  on 
the  hay,  and  it  affords  me  a  good  opportunity  of 
writing  to  you.  Perhaps  more  particulars  about  the 
place  I  am  now  staying  at  would  be  interesting. 
The  house  has  a  most  pleasant  situation,  on  a  hill 
which  overlooks  the  road,  called  "  Green  Hill."  In 
the  front  of  the  house  there  are  several  beautiful 
shade-trees,  and  I  think  it  is  the  most  neatly  built 
and  finished  farm-house  I  have  seen  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  farm  consists  of  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  acres,  all  of  which  is  in  a  very  good  state  of  cul- 
tivation. The  farmer's  wife  is  one  of  the  kindest 
women  I  have  ever  met  with. 

To  THE  SAME. 

Barrington,  August  8, 1858. 

I  am  writing  this  letter  in  a  great  hurry,  although 
it  is  Sunday ;  for  we  have  to  work  on  the  hay  to-day, 
as  it  is  a  very  good  hay-day,  and  we  have  some  quan- 
tity out,  which  we  want  to  get  in  before  night. 


00  APPENDIX. 

I  am  glad  you  called  my  attention  to  the  observa- 
tion of  the  natural  objects  which  surround  me.  I 
think  I  have  a  natural  disposition  to  observe  these 
things ;  but  your  remarks  on  the  subject  will  cause 
me  to  pay  more  attention  to  them  than  I  should  oth- 
erwise do.  My  stay  in  the  country  has  enabled  me 
to  appreciate  those  little  courtesies  which  we  offer  to 
one  another  in  polite  society,  and  which  I  was  too 
apt  to  consider  as  affectation ;  for  here  I  see  an  al- 
most total  suspension  of  them,  and  the  result  is  a 
perpetual  wrangling ;  which  is  produced  by  their  dis- 
regard for  each  other's  feelings,  and  their  licentious 
use  of  language;  which  would  be  inadmissible  in 
polite  society. 

I  have  got  the  books  you  sent,  and  thank  you  for 
them.  I  hope  you  keep  a  strict  account  of  all  the 
money  you  expend  for  me,  as  I  desired  you  to  do. 

I  regret  to  think  that  I  have  nothing  more  to  offer 
you  in  return  for  all  your  favors,  but  my  unprofitable 
affection ;  but  I  flatter  myself  by  thinking  that  will 
be  acceptable,  and  remain  yours  ever  affectionately. 

The  following  are  of  a  later  date  by  a  year.  In 
1859  he  took  a  vacation  of  a  few  weeks,  and  paid  a 
visit  to  his  friends  at  Barrington. 


APPENDIX.  89 

To  THE  SAME. 

Barrington,  July  20,  1859. 

DEAR  PATER,  —  I  did  not  get  yours  of  the  15th 
until  yesterday,  when  I  took  a  ride  on  horseback  to 
Dover.  Since  I  have  arrived  in  the  country  I  have 
enjoyed  myself  very  much,  and  I  already  begin  to 
feel  the  benefit  of  it.  It  would  be  scarcely  more  of 
a  task  for  you  to  imagine  what  I  have  been  doing 
than  for  me  to  tell  you.  I  have  had  but  one  horse- 
back ride ;  but  one  drive  with  the  farmer's  daughter ; 
mowed  once ;  have  walked  but  little  with  my  female 
friends ;  have  been  in  search  neither  of  flowers  nor 
minerals;  have  not  read  more  than  three  or  four 
hours  during  the  week.  So  much  for  the  negative 
side  of  the  question.  All  I  can  say  on  the  positive 
side  is,  that  I  have  generally  and  uniformly  enjoyed 
myself. 

I  have  read  both  the  poems  you  pointed  out  to  me, 
but  do  not  think  them  at  all  equal  to  Goldsmith.  I 
think  the  Elegy  (Gray's  Elegy,  written  in  a  Country 
Churchyard)  is  superior  to  the  Ode  (Ode  on  the 
distant  prospect  of  Eton  College).  There  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  anything  very  definite  or  applica- 
ble in  Gray's  Ode  on  Eton  College ;  and  the  impres- 
8* 


90  APPENDIX. 

» 

sion  left  on  my  mind  after  reading  it  is  something 
like  that  experienced  after  hearing  one  of  R.  W. 
Emerson's  Lectures. 

You  ask  me  for  my  opinion  on  Gray's  alliteration. 
I  do  not  think  my  poetical  taste  sufficiently  devel- 
oped and  critical  to  give  an  opinion  on  such  a  mat- 
ter ;  but  as  you  desire  it,  I  will  give  you  my  impres- 
sion. To  my  ear  it  seems  to  have  no  bad  effect  on 
the  rhythm  of  verse.  I  think  the  effect  is  especially 
pleasing  and  appropriate  in  the  line  you  cite,  — 

"  Euin  seize  thee,  ruthless  king !  " 

In  this  instance  it  seems  to  increase  the  earnestness 
of  the  expression,  and  render  it  more  emphatic. 
But  there  is  one  argument  which  I  think  should  con- 
demn its  general  adoption,  and  restrain  other  poets 
from  imitating  Gray  in  this  particular ;  that  is,  it  is" 
an  additional  shackle  to  expression,  and  restricts  the 
poet's  choice  of  words  to  a  still  narrower  range.  The 
rhyme  and  rhythm  of  verse  are  to  the  poet  what  the 
use  of  the  chisel  is  to  the  sculptor,  merely  the  me- 
chanical part.  It  is  the  sublimity  and  truthfulness  of 
his  conception  which  prove  the  poet  and  the  man  of 
genius. 


APPENDIX.  91 

I  am  now  in  the  woods,  scribbling  off  with  a  lead 
pencil,  intending  to  copy  it  in  the  house.  I  cannot 
say  that  I  am  alone,  for  at  this  moment  I  am  sur- 
rounded by  thirty  or  forty  most  vigilant  and  musical 
mosquitoes,  whose  repeated  attacks  by  no  means  in- 
crease the  pleasures  of  my  situation. 

To  A  FRIEND  IN  ENGLAND. 

Boston,  February  8, 1858. 

I  have  many  ambitious  designs,  which  are  dearer 
to  me  than  life ;  for  without  the  hope  of  accomplish- 
ing them,  life  would  be  to  me  insignificant  and 
worthless.  But  my  principal  design  is  to  get  a 
thorough  education,  for  on  the  achievement  of  this 
one  depends  the  success  of  the  rest.  The  getting 
this  thorough  education  will  occupy  at  least  the  next 
eight  years*  of  my  life. 

There  have  been  moments  when  visions  of  future 
domestic  happiness  presented  themselves  vividly  to 
my  imagination,  —  domestic  happiness  which  I  fear 
will  never  be  to  me  anything  more  substantial  than  a 
vision.  My  imagination  in  a  moment  carried  me 


92  APPENDIX. 

through  a  brilliant  and  successful  period  of  active 
life,  until  it  brought  me  to  that  period  when  the 
mind  turns  from  the  active  scenes  of  life,  and  seeks 
retirement  and  repose,  that  it  may  enjoy  the  mental 
harvest  it  has  gathered.  Then  I  saw  myself  in  a 
cottage,  far  from  the  bustle  and  din  of  city  life ;  —  a 
lawn  resplendent  with  verdure  spread  out  before  me ; 
the  wild  rose-bush  an$  sweet-brier  surrounded  the 
door  of  my  cottage,  perfuming  the  air  with  their 
sweet  odors;  the  birds  sung  on  the  trees;  a  rivulet 
sparkled  in  the  distance ;  and  by  my  side  stood  the 
partner  of  my  life,  —  a  woman  possessed  of  a  noble 
and  cultivated  mind ;  one  who  had  accompanied  me 
through  many  winding  paths,  sharing  my  joys  and 
sorrows,  my  successes  and  disappointments. 

This  was  a  happy  state ;  but  it  was  only  a  dream. 
In  those  dreams  I  forgot  my  cold  attic  in  Boston ;  I 
forgot  the  rigid  economy  I  should  have  to  practice, 
and  the  difficulties  I  should  have  to  encounter,  before 
I  could  start  in  life  with  the  education  and  accom- 
plishments I  desire. 


APPENDIX.  93 

To  THE  SAME.. 

Boston,  December  18, 1859. 

To  speak  candidly,  I  do  not  think  I  have  the  right 
sort  of  mind  to  make  any  woman  happy.  I  am  too 
much  in  love  with  the  sublime  mysteries  of  nature  to 
have  much  love  left  for  a  wife.  I  would  sacrifice 
every  other  pleasure  on  earth  to  know  what  power  it 
is  in  nature  that  animates  matter ;  or  to  know  why 
some  men  are  born  with  noble  dispositions,  and  oth- 
ers with  dispositions  quite  the  opposite.  I  would 
devote  my  life  to  a  labor  which  should  promise  to 
yield  up  to  man  another  sublime  truth  in  the  science 
of  Astronomy,  or  in  any  way  assist  in  the  conquest 
of  mind  over  matter. 


To  DR.  RUSH. 

•  [DR.  E-USH,  hearing  from  him  his  intention  of  go- 
ing to  England,  was  impressed  with  the  idea  that 
this  interruption  of  his  plan  of  study  proved  a  want 
of  stability  and  perseverance.  He  wrote  to  him 
strongly  on  this  point,  and  the  following  are  ex- 
tracts from  Matthew's  letter  in  reply.] 


94  APPENDIX. 

Boston,  November  8, 1857. 

When  I  started  for  Philadelphia,  my  plan  was  to 
work  at  my  trade  until  I  had  completed  my  appren- 
ticeship, and  then,  after  a  little  preparation,  to  go  on 
the  stage.  You  recommended  me  to  get  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  languages,  and  to  study  mathematics,  and 
the  other  elementary  branches  of  education.  Now, 
since  I  left  Philadelphia  I  have  steadily  devoted  all 
my  evenings  to  these  studies,  and  I  intend  to  con- 
tinue to  do  so  for  the  next  three  or  four  years  of 
my  life. 

It  seems  to  me  there  are  a  great  many  things  in 
nature  yet  unanalyzed,  and  which  require  the  same 
kind  of  philosophical  reasoning  that  you  have 
brought  to  bear  on  the  subject  of  the  voice.  Now 
I  should  like  to  have  the  pleasure  (if  I  have  the 
ability)  of  carrying  on  this  kind  of  philosophical 
analysis,  —  this  analysis  which  finds  out  the  truth  of 
things ;  but  before  an  individual  can  add  to  the  stock 
of  knowledge,  he  has  first  to  learn  what  is  already 
known;  and  if  I  have  to  gain  my  knowledge  and 
education  by  studying  a  few  hours  every  evening, 
after  working  hard  all  day,  I  shall  not  only  have  to 
sacrifice  every  social  and  domestic  comfort  of  life, 


APPENDIX.  95 

but  I  shall  find  myself  an  old  man  and  ready  to  die 
before  I  am  in  possession  of  the  materials  to  think 
with. 

In  considering  these  things,  I  hope  you  will  not 
charge  me  with  unsteadiness  if  in  three  or  four  years 
from  now  I  should  inform  you  that  I  have  left  my 
trade,  at  least  for  a  time,  and  am  devoting  my  whole 
time  to  the  improvement  of  my  education. 

.  I  admit  that  my  going  home  retarded  the  progress 
of  my  studies,  but  I  think  on  this  point  you  may 
excuse  me ;  for  it  is  to  be  expected  that  a  boy  leav- 
ing home  before  he  was  fifteen  years  old  should  have 
a  desire  to  see  his  parents  after  an  absence  from 
them  of  more  than  four  years ;  and  I  considered  it  a 
duty  which  I  owed  to  those  who  had  provided  for 
and  protected  me  during  the  most  helpless  part  of 
my  life. 

Your  letter  is  far  more  valuable  to  me  than  one  of 
commendation,  for  it  reminds  me  of  my  weak  points, 
and  encourages  me  to  conquer  them ;  and  it  has  a 
tendency  to  allay  that  feeling  of  pride  and  self-con- 
ceit which  is  too  apt  to  creep  over  the  mind  of  aspir- 
ing youth. 

In  your  letter  you  speak  of  the  short  time  left  to 


96  APPENDIX. 

you,  and  of  uncompleted  designs.  Let  me  assure 
you  that  I  would  not  trespass  for  a  moment  upon 
this  most  valuable  time ;  and  I  could  not  wish  you  to 
devote  to  an  individual  that  which  is  of  value  to 
mankind.  You  have  already  done  more  for  me 
than  my  wildest  imagination  could  have  led  me  to 
expect,  and  I  ask  no  more. 

Hoping  this  will  find  you  recovered  from  your 
late  indisposition,  I  have  the  honor  to  remain  your 
greatly  indebted  and  devoted  humble  friend,  &c. 


No.  III. 

A  PROPOSED  CHANGE  IN  THE  METHOD  OF  PRINTING. 
To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE . 

Sm :  —  In  recently  pursuing  a  course  of  studies  on 
Optics,  it  occurred  to  me  that  an  important  improve- 
ment might  be  made  in  the  present  mode  of  printing, 
which  I  feel  an  irresistible  desire  to  communicate  to 
you,  and  (if  you  think  my  thoughts  on  this  subject 
worthy  the  honor)  through  your  columns  to  the  pub- 


APPENDIX.  97 

lie.  The  idea  I  have  to  offer  has,  no  doubt,  risen  in 
the  minds  of  many  besides  myself,  therefore  all  the 
claim  I  can  make  to  originality  is  simply  to  say  that 
I  never  saw  it  in  print,  or  heard  it  expressed  by  any 
individual. 

My  idea  is  briefly  this:  —  We. may  improve  the 
present  mode  of  printing  by  reversing  it ;  instead  of 
printing  black  letters  on  a  white  ground,  print  white 
letters  on  a  black  ground.  As  it  may  not  be  at  once 
apparent  why  this  should  constitute  an  improvement, 
I  will  attempt  an  explanation. 

My  argument  is  based  on  the  principles  of  light 
and  vision,  as  expounded  by  optical  writers.  These 
gentlemen  tell  us  that  white  light  (as  emitted  from 
the  sun)  is  composed  of  seven  different  colors ;  and 
they  account  for  the  different  colors  possessed  by  the 
various  objects  which  surround  us,  on  the  principle 
that  these  objects  have  the  property  of  absorbing 
some  of  the  colors  of  light,  and  reflecting  others. 
For  example,  an  object  which  appears  to  us  red,  ab- 
sorbs all  the  colors  but  red,  and  that  it  reflects  into 
the  eye,  giving  it  the  peculiar  appearance  we  denom- 
inate red. 

Following  out  this  principle,  white  and  black  can- 
9  G 


98  APPENDIX. 

not  be  considered  as  colors,  since  an  object  which 
appears  white  has  the  property  of  reflecting  (and 
absorbing)  all  the  colors  equally,  so  that  light  falling 
on  such  an  object  is  not  decomposed  into  its  different 
colors;  consequently  no  color  is  produced;  and  an 
object  appearing  black  has  the  property  of  absorbing 
all  the  light  which  falls  upon  it.  These  principles 
being  admitted,  let  us  apply  them  to  our  present  sub- 
ject. When  we  look  on  a  printed  sheet  of  paper, 
how  do  we  see  the  letters  ?  It  will  be  answered, 
"By  the  contrast  produced  by  black  and  white." 
But  let  us  examine  this  a  step  further,  and  see  how 
these  two  qualities  produce  their  effect  upon  the  eye. 
According  to  the  acknowledged  principles  of  optical 
science,  the  black'  part  of  the  printed  paper  absorbs 
all  the  light  which  falls  upon  it ;  hence  it  follows  that 
the  white  part  of  the  paper  is  the  only  part  which 
reflects  light  into  the  eye,  and  produces  what  may  be 
called  a  positive  impression  on  the  retina.  Now  the 
letters  produce  their  effect  in  a  different  and  opposite 
manner,  which  may  be  called  a  negative  impression ; 
that  is  to  say,  they  are  made  evident  to  our  visual 
faculties  by  their  property  of  absorbing  the  light,  and 
thus  interrupting  the  uniform  impression  which  would 


APPENDIX.  99 

otherwise  be  made  by  the  white  paper.  Let  us  now 
look  at  the  page  of  a  printed  book  or  newspaper,  and 
notice  the  relative  proportions  of  space  occupied  by 
the  letters  and  blank  paper.  In  the  majority  of 
cases  we  find  the  white  portions  of  the  page,  taken 
collectively,  to  occupy  a  space  about  double  the  size 
of  the  black  portions.  From  a  view  of  these  facts  it 
appears  that  in  reading  one  page  of  a  book  the  eye 
is  taxed  as  much  as  it  would  be  in  reading  two  pages, 
if  the  letters  were  white  on  a  black  ground. 

Persons  who  have  not  very  strong  eyes  are  often 
heard  to  complain  of  a  confusion  or  blur  they  experi- 
ence, after  having  read  a  short  time.  I  think  if  the 
proposed  improvement  were  adopted,  it  would  have 
a  tendency  to  alleviate  in  some  degree  this  evil, 
which  is  no  doubt  caused  by  the  retina's  incapacity 
to  bear  a  strong  and  continued  impression  of  light ; 
consequently  the  parts  exposed  to  the  action  of  light 
become  irritated  or  inflamed;  this  inflammation 
spreads,  thus  having  the  effect  to  obscure  the  letters 
by  equalizing  the  sensation  over  the  whole  retina, 
If  our  theory  is  correct,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how 
such  individuals  might  receive  benefit  from  the  pro- 
posed improvement.  In  the  first  place,  it  would 


100  APPENDIX. 

enable  us  to  read  by  subjecting  a  much  less  portion 
of  the  retina  to  the  action  of  light,  and  thus  propor- 
tionably  retard  the  approach  of  inflammation ;  sec- 
ondly, when  the  retina  became  inflamed,  the  effect 
would  have  farther  to  spread  before  obscuring  the 
letters.  Besides  these  benefits,  there  is  every  reason 
to  suppose  that  the  letters  would  make  a  more  forci- 
ble and  definite  impression  on  the  eye;  and  thus 
materially  aid  the  precision  of  reading.  "When  we 
read,  our  object  is  to  see  the  printed  characters,  not 
the  paper ;  then,  why  not  let  them  make  the  impres- 
sion on  the  eye  ?  In  the  present  mode  of  printing, 
the  mind  is  constrained  to  take  cognizance  of  things 
omitted,  which  is  always  more  of  a  task  than  to  ex- 
amine that  which  is  brought  boldly  before  its  notice. 
Having,  perhaps,  already  occupied  too  much  of 
your  time,  or  taken  up  too  much  space  in  your  col- 
umns, I  submit  my  thoughts  to  your  candid  criticism, 
and  to  that  of  your  intelligent  readers. 

OCULUS. 


APPENDIX.  101 


NOTE  FROM  PROFESSOR  G.  P.  BOND. 

Observatory  of  Harvard  College, 
Cambridge,  January  9,  1860. 

DEAR  SIR:  —  In  replying  to  your  inquiries  re- 
specting Mr.  Edwards,  I  would  desire  to  be  under- 
stood as  expressing  my  impressions,  gathered  from 
two  or  three  interviews,  rather  than  a  competent 
estimate  of  his  abilities  as  an  artist,  which  my  lim- 
ited acquaintance  with  him  would  scarcely  enable 
me  to  form. 

On  the  few  occasions  of  our  meeting,  he  seemed 
to  be  quite  carried  away  with  an  enthusiastic  desire 
to  introduce  novel  principles  and  improvements  into 
the  construction  of  instruments,  and,  as  was  to  be 
expected  in  one  so  young,  he  showed  some  want  of 
familiarity  with  the  actual  state  of  the  art.  A 
larger  experience  would  have  tended  to  restrain 
his  zeal.  Still  we  must  rememder  that  much  is 
often  accomplished  by  venturing  further  upon  un- 
tried ground  than  prudence  would  dictate,  —  new 
principles  and  ideas  must  have  their  advocates,  if 
they  are  ever  to  get  a  foothold. 
9* 


102  APPENDIX. 

There-  is  one  of  Mr;  Edwards's  proposed  improve- 
ments which  impressed  me  very  favorably,  and  which 
it  must  be  a  source  of  deep  regret  to  all  his  friends 
that  he  did  not  live  to  perfect.  I  mean  that  which 
he  termed  the  "  leucographic "  graduation.  White 
divisions  inlaid  upon  a  dark  ground  would  have 
many  advantages  over  the  customary  method  of  ex- 
hibiting the  graduations  of  astronomical  instru- 
ments. 

When  I  last  saw  him  he  was  full  of  confidence  in 
his  plan,  and  I  confess  that  it  had  my  strongest  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement,  although  I  was,  of  course, 
not  a  competent  judge  of  the  practicability  of  the 
mechanical  means  by  which  he  proposed  to  accom- 
plish it.  Looking  only  at  the  end  proposed,  I  should 
not  hesitate  to  characterize  it  as  one  of  capital  im- 
portance, and  well  deserving  all  the  attention  which 
Mr.  Edwards  had  devoted  to  it. 

[Respectfully  yours, 

G.  P.  BOND. 

NOTE.  —  Matthew  perfected  his  method  of  leuco- 
graphic graduation  after  his  interview  with  Profes- 
sor Bond.  He  made  out  a  specification  of  his  pro- 


APPENDIX.  103 

cesses,  and  forwarded  it  to  Washington,  with  his 
claim  for  a  patent,  which  was  granted.  He  also 
prepared  a  thermometer  scale,  with  leucographic 
graduations,  which  exhibits  his  design  earned  into 
execution. 


No.   V. 

FROM    PROFESSOR    WILLIAM   B.    ROGERS,    OF    THE 
UNIVERSITY    OF    VIRGINIA. 

Boston,  February  6,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  —  The  process  of  "leucographic 
graduation,"  invented  by  our  young  friend,  Matthew 
Edwards,  and  for  which  he  obtained  a  patent,  a  short 
time  before  his  death,  has  always  struck  me  as  an 
improvement  of  great  practical  importance. 

The  advantage  of  silver  lines  on  a  nearly  black 
ground  is  a  necessary  result  of  those  optical  laws 
which  our  young  friend  so  well  understood  and  ex- 
plained; and  would  be  conceded,  perhaps,  without 
experimental  proof.  Yet  on  inspecting  a  thermom- 
eter-scale prepared  by  this  process,  persons,  even  the 
most  experienced  in  graduated  instruments,  would,  I 


104  APPENDIX. 

think,  be  surprised  at  the  extent  to  which  such  a 
scale  excels  in  distinctness  the  clearest  graduations 
in  general  use. 

The  process  by  which  this  valuable  result  is 
attained  is  so  simple,  inexpensive,  and  certain,  and 
its  applications  are  so  numerous  and  obviously  advan- 
tageous, that  I  think  it  deserves  to  be  strongly  com- 
mended to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  branch  of  art 
to  which  it  appertains. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

WILLIAM  B.  ROGERS. 


No.    VI. 
FROM  PROFESSOR  H.  L.  EUSTIS. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  April  2,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  —  Your  account  of  Edward's  visit 
to  me  is  entirely  correct.  He  brought  with  him  a 
specimen  of  his  leucographic  scales,  and  we  had 
some  conversation  about  the  possibility  of  protecting 
them  from  oxidation.  If  this  can  be  done,  they  cer- 
tainly possess  decided  advantages  over  the  old  scales. 
The  difficulty  of  reading  a  finely  graduated  vernier 


APPENDIX.  105 

on  account  of  the  reflections  becomes  very  fatiguing 
to  the  eye.  His  theodolite  I  did  not  see,  but  one  of 
my  pupils  made  a  drawing  of  the  levelling  appara- 
tus, which  was  one  of  the  novelties  introduced  in  it. 
This  appeared  to  me  to  be  an  improvement  upon  the 
old  method. 

Yours  truly, 

H.  L.  EUSTIS. 


106  APPENDIX. 

No.  VI. 

DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    LEVELLING  APPARATUS    OF 
EDWARDS'S  IMPROVED   THEODOLITE. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Edward  L.  Adams,  of 
the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  for  the  accompany- 
ing figures  of  the  Levelling  Apparatus  invented 
by  Mr.  Edwards,  and  for  the  following  descrip- 
tion. 

• 

Figure  1  represents  a  vertical  section  of  the  lev- 
elling adjustments  of  the  common  theodolite.  Figure 
2  represents  the  levelling  adjustments  of  Edwards's 
improved  theodolite.  In  Fig.  1,  Q  Q  is  the  lower 
stationary  plate,  fastened  to  the  tripod  by  means  of 
the  screw  S  S.  It  bears  the  weight  of  the  instru- 
ment by  means  of  the  levelling  screws  K,  L,  which 
pass  through  the  plate  P  P,  to  which  is  attached  the 
spherical  ball  J5,  which  is  held  firmly  against  the 
jaws  J,  J,  of  the  lower  plate,  and  thus  prevents  the 
upper  plate  from  being  removed  too  far  from  the 
lower  one,  while  at  the  same  time  it  allows  a  rotary 
motion  in  the  upper  plate.  The  lower  graduated 


APPENDIX.  107 

circle  (not  shown  in  the  figure)  is  attached  to  the 
spindle  A,  which  moves  within  the  ball  B. 

In  Figure  2,  Q  Q  represents  the  lower  portion  of 
the  instrument,  bearing  arms  7?,  JR,  and  fastened  to 
the  tripod  by  the  screw  S  S.  It  has  jaws  JJ  against 
which  moves  the  spherical  ball  B,  which  is  attached 
to  the  upper  plate  P  P,  by  means  of  the  screw  T  T. 
The  ball  is  held  in  place  by  the  accurately  fitted 
ring  JB,  which  is  screwed  to  the  lower  portion  of  the 
instrument.  The  arms  R  R  are  stiffened  at  their 
extremities  by  a  horizontal  ring  (not  shown  in  the 
figure).  The  levelling  screws  KL  pass  through  the 
arms  F F of  the  upper  plate  PP.  The  axes  of  the 
screws  are  perpendicular  to  these  arms,  and  also  to 
the  extended  radius  of  the  ball  B,  which  radius 
makes  an  angle  of  37°  with  the  vertical  line  pass- 
ing through  the  centre  of  the  instrument,  and  passes 
through  the  arms  F F.  The  lower  end  of  the  level- 
ling screw  moves  upon  a  curve  formed  upon  the 
upper  face  of  the  arm  7?,  which  curve  is  so  con- 
structed that  the  axis  of  the  screw  is  always  normal 
to  it.  The  upper  horizontal  circle,  which  carries  the 
compass,  is  connected  with  the  tapering  spindle  -4, 
which  turns  within  the  spindle  D  which  is  connected 


108  APPENDIX. 

with  the  lower  graduated  circle,  neither  of  which 
circles  are  shown  in  the  figure.  The  spindle  D 
turns  within  the  ball  B. 

There  are  several  manifest  improvements  in  Ed- 
wards's  levelling  apparatus,  over  that  in  common  use. 
First,  the  levelling  screws  are  used  only  to  adjust  the 
upper  plates  when  out  of  level,  the  weight  of  the 
instrument  being  borne  by  the  ring  E,  while,  in  the 
common  instrument,  the  weight  is  borne  by  the 
screws  only,  thus  causing  friction  that  wears  out  the 
threads.  Secondly,  owing  to  the  thickness  of  the 
jaws  in  Fig.  2,  as  compared  with  those  in  Fig.  1,  the 
friction  caused  by  their  contact  with  the  ball  is  dis- 
tributed over  a  larger  surface,  thus  causing  less  wear 
between  them,  and  better  preserving  the  sphericity 
of  the  ball  than  in  Fig.  1,  in  which  the  jaws  are 
made  very  thin,  and  have  a  tendency  to  wear  upon 
the  ball,  and  wear  away  themselves,  owing  to  the 
concentration  of  the  friction  between  the  ball  and 
jaws  to  a  narrow  ring,  which  the  surface  of  the 
jaws  presents  to  the  ball.  This  friction  soon  in- 
creases the  diameter  of  the  jaws  to  equal  that  of 
the  ball,  in  which  case  it  is  crowded  through  the 
jaws,  and  the  instrument  is  useless  until  repaired. 


APPENDIX.  109 

Thirdly,  the  screws  in  Fig.  2  always  work  to  the 
best  advantage,  their  axes  being  constantly  normal 
to  the  surfaces  against  which  they  press,  whereas 
in  Fig.  1  the  upper  ends  only  have  a  constantly 
normal  pressure,  and  the  lower  ends  of  the  axes 
are  normal  to  the  surface  of  the  lower  plate,  against 
which  they  press,  only  when  the  two  plates  are  .ex- 
actly parallel. 


10 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


THE  mechanical  inventions  of  the  late  Matthew  Ed- 
wards are  offered  for  sale. 

They  consist,  first,  of  an  improved  method  of  bronzing 
or  darkening  the  surfaces  of  metals,  applicable  in  par- 
ticular to  the  graduating  of  mathematical  instruments,  in 
the  manner  called  by  the  inventor  "  leucographic  grad- 
uation, or  the  production  of  white  lines  on  a  dark 
ground."  This  process  is  secured  by  patent. 

Secondly,  of  an  improved  method  of  levelling  or 
adjusting,  horizontally,  mathematical  instruments.  This 
improvement  removes  the  imperfection  found  in  instru- 
ments as  usually  constructed,  viz.  that  the  levelling 
screws  work  hard,  and  are  apt  to  get  out  of  order. 

A  complete  set  of  patterns  for  the  construction  of  a 
Theodolite  upon  this  system  is  to  be  sold,  together  with 
the  right  to  employ  this  method. 

Apply  to  EZRA  LINCOLN,  Civil  Engineer,  No.  4 
Court  Street,  or  to  ENOCH  EDWARDS,  Executor,  East 
Canton  Street,  Boston. 


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"  An  absorbingly  interesting  story."  —  School  Visitor. 

Scores  of  other  notices  could  be  added ;  but  these  serve  to  indicate 
the  estimation  in  which  the  book  is  held. 

It  should  be  in  every  Sunday-School  Library  and  every  family. 

WALKER,  WISE,  &  CO,,  Publishers, 

245  Washington  Street,  Boston. 


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